*W2 


STOCKING 


GIFT  OF 
HORACE  W.  CARFENTSER 

A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 


A  BLUESTOCKING 
IN  INDIA 

Her  Medical  Wards 
and  Messages  Home 


By 
WINIFRED  HESTON,  M.  D. 


NEW  YORK         CHICAGO        TORONTO 

Fleming   H.  Revell  Company 

LONDON  AND  EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


CARPENTIER 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  80  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


To 
Mr  MOTHER 


M183693 


THESE  letters  afford  so  personal  a  glimpse  into 
a  certain  phase  of  life  and  work  in  a  particular 
mission  field  that,  in  presenting  them  to  the 
public,  it  has  been  deemed  wise  by  the  writer  to 
change  the  names  of  the  persons  and  places  most 
concerned.  She  would  also  take  this  opportunity 
of  expressing  her  gratitude  to  "  Eleanor  "  for  a 
kindly  assistance  in  preparing  the  book  for  the 
press. 

W.  H. 


A  Bluestocking  in  India 


On  the  Atlantic,  Oct.  20,  19 — . 
My  dear  Eleanor  : 

At  last  the  bluestocking  is  launched 
upon  her  career,  even  as  she  is  upon  the 
briny  deep,  and  with  big  and  curious  eyes  is 
looking  eagerly  into  the  future  for  fame  and 
name — not  wealth,  the  Fates  forbid  ! — but 
seriously,  for  usefulness  and  service  to  woman 
kind. 

I  am  all  agog  for  experiences  in  any  guise 
whatsoever,  and  as  you  have  insisted  upon 
my  complete  confidence  as  well  as  upon  a 
record  of  my  least  impressions,  I  will  try  to 
keep  you  generally  informed  as  to  my  prog 
ress  towards  the  beatific  state  of  the  approved 
and  perfect  missionary. 

Your  letter  to  the  steamer  was  a  godsend. 
I  received  such  a  stack  of  farewell  mail  that 
I  decided  to  read  it  in  relays,  and  to-day,  by 
good  fortune,  I  turned  up  yours. 

It  was  too  bad  we  could  not  meet  before 
I  sailed,  for  I  had  so  many  things  to  say  to 
9 


10          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

you ;  but  what  with  the  rush  of  your  literary 
career  and  the  strenuousness  of  my  student 
life,  it  seemed  to  be  absolutely  impossible. 
Nevertheless,  I  want  to  tell  you  right  now, 
that  I  can  never  forget  nor  cease  to  be  grate 
ful  for  the  days  of  "  auld  lang  syne,"  when 
you  alone  of  all  my  friends  refused  to  laugh 
at  my  aspirations.  You  took  me  seriously — 
more  so,  perhaps,  than  I  did  myself — and  by 
doing  so  you  encouraged  me  to  believe  in 
myself  and  in  my  possibilities. 

All  through  the  last  four  years  I  have  had 
the  same  battle  to  fight  among  college  mates, 
medics,  doctors — in  fact,  every  one,  every 
where.  My  special  friend  among  the  medics 
used  to  say  that  I  was  a  pretty  specimen  for 
a  missionary,  with  my  fondness  for  dainty 
dresses  and  things  of  the  world  generally, 
and  was  eternally  asking,  "  Why  don't  you 
put  on  black  and  sober  down  a  bit  ?  "  But  I 
only  laughed  and  tossed  my  head — until  she 
began  to  speak  slightingly  of  the  work,  and 
then  I  whispered  into  her  ear  some  of  the 
agonies  of  a  woman's  life  in  the  thick  dark 
nesses  of  heathendom,  till  she  became  very 
quiet,  maintaining  thereafter  a  strictly  rever 
ential  attitude  towards  my  future  career. 

In  time  I  became  quite  inured  to  the  jokes 
of  the  girls,  and  to  such  songs  as : 


A  BLUESTOCKIKG  IN  INDIA          11 

"  Would  I  were  a  cassowary 
On  the  plains  of  Timbuctoo, 
I'd  eat  a  medical  missionary, 
Bible,  bones,  and  hymn-book  too.'* 

Tell  me,  do  you  always  think  of  the 
u  female  doctor "  as  wearing  short  skirts, 
short  hair,  a  budding  moustache  and  talking 
in  a  deep  basso profundo  voice?  Among  all 
our  students  there  was  but  one  such.  Please, 
dear,  remember  me  just  as  I  was  when  last 
we  met,  excepting  the  slightly  more  severe 
and  tailor-made  aspect  which  professional 
duties  have  compelled  me  to  affect,  but  with 
home  and  evening  gowns  just  as  frivolous  as 
in  the  days  of  yore,  and  with  just  as  much 
love  and  fun  in  my  heart  as  when  we  were 
youngsters  together. 

What  a  time  I  had  leaving  the  hospital, 
where  my  interneship  had  won  for  me  such 
splendid  friends !  The  great  surgeon,  Dr. 
Stanley,  actually  swore,  and  called  me  a 
fool  for  going  to  India,  saying  I  might  have 
had  a  career  in  America.  Dr.  Foraker  asked 
me  if  I  were  going  for  the  trip — but  he  is  an 
agnostic.  In  fact  it  has  been  difficult  for  me 
to  make  my  motives  understood — the  more 
so  since  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  act  piously 
or  to  give  any  impression  whatever  of  re 
ligious  tendencies.  But  there  are  noble  men 


12          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

on  the  hospital  staff,  and  at  bottom  they  are 
religious,  though  they  would  scorn  to  call 
themselves  so. 


October  2jd. 

The  wind  moans  through  the  rigging  and 
a  gray  sky  bends  to  meet  a  grayer  sea.  It 
makes  me  feel  the  same  colour — a  horrid 
blue-gray  which  refuses  to  be  shaken  off — 
nor  is  it  conducive  to  the  cheering  up  of  the 
Collinses,  my  travelling  companions,  who 
have  left  their  little  ten-year-old  daughter  in 
America.  Their  parting  on  the  wharf  the 
day  we  left  New  York  was  truly  sorrowful. 
The  child — an  only  one — is  dearer  to  her 
father's  heart  than  life  itself,  and  is  her 
mother's  light  and  joy.  The  poor  little 
thing  was  convulsed  with  sobs,  and  had  to 
be  supported  between  two  friends  as  her 
parents  tore  themselves  away  for  the  last 
time  and  dashed  up  the  gangplank  just  as 
it  was  being  removed.  It  was  a  pitiful  sight 
to  see  them  waving  their  handkerchiefs  as 
long  as  they  could  see  each  other,  and  then 
the  desolate  parents  disappeared  below,  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  the  day  upon  their 
knees  in  their  stuffy  little  cabin,  in  the  throes 
of  the  greatest  of  all  the  great  sacrifices  they 
have  made  for  India. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA         13 

To-day  is  the  Sabbath,  and  Mr.  Collins 
conducted  a  service  in  the  salon  this  morning, 
very  sweetly  comparing  our  embarkation  at 
New  York  with  our  initial  step  into  a  life 
with  God.  As  we  had  only  to  board  the 
boat  to  be  borne  without  further  volition  down 
the  river,  out  of  the  harbour,  and  thence  upon 
the  broad  ocean,  so  God  will  see  to  it  that 
we  are  borne  out  and  away  upon  the  great 
ocean  of  His  love  into  His  own  limitless,  in 
finite  Life. 

The  consecration  of  that  man  is  marvellous. 

sK  *  *  *  * 

I  love  the  sea  in  all  its  moods.  "  '  The  sea 
is  His,  and  He  made  it.'  The  wideness  of  it  1 
— emblem  of  God's  mercy.  The  wonder  of 
it — God's  wisdom.  The  horizon  of  it — we 
know  not  what  lies  beyond.  The  sorrow  of 
it — separation  and  death.  The  promise  of  it 
— '  There  shall  be  no  more  sea  ! ' 

Ah,  yes,  to  me  it  spells  so  much — separa 
tion,  loneliness,  but  withal  a  buoyant  hope, 
for  I  am  young  yet,  and  the  world  is  all  before 
me,  a  world  of  promise,  a  world  of  work ! 

I  wonder  how  your  American  independence 
would  swallow  second-class  travel  and  twelfth- 
rate  boarding-houses  ?  Mine  has  been  in  a 
state  of  surprise — to  apply  no  worse  epithet — 
for  sometime,  from  my  advent  into  a  stuffy  hall 


14          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

bedroom,  engaged  for  me  by  the  kindness  of 
the  Board,  on  the  top  floor  of  such  a  boarding- 
house  as  is  mentioned  above,  to  my  further 
experience  in  an  air-tight,  second-class  cabin 
away  down  in  the  hold  of  the  ship.  You  can 
believe  the  latter  did  not  hold  me  long.  One 
glance  and  I  fled  up  to  the  light  of  heaven, 
and  there  was  no  peace  until  I  was  transferred 
to  deck  level,  where  winds  careen  and  waters 
dash. 

All  the  refinement  of  the  second-class  is 
collected  at  our  table  in  the  salon.  Sitting 
next  to  me  is  a  French  bourgeoisie,  very  home 
sick  and  eager  to  see  his  sunny  France  once 
again.  Opposite  is  a  dear  old  Italian  priest 
with  a  face  like  a  yellow  cameo  and  almost 
wearing  a  halo  around  his  fine,  old  head. 
He  is  accompanied  by  a  blond  youth  pre 
paring  for  Holy  Orders. 

A  fat  little  German  serves  me  at  table,  and 
as  he  knows  not  a  word  of  English,  while  my 
linguistic  lustre  has  long  been  on  the  decline, 
we  have  very  amusing  times.  Between  meals 
he  drags  about  a  bass  viol  which  might  be 
his  twin,  so  short  and  stout  are  they  both. 

I  survey  the  first-class  passengers  across 
the  bottomless  pit  placed  between  our  prom 
enade  decks,  and  several  of  them  reciprocate 
with  interest  and  an  interrogation  point. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          15 

When  darkness  falls,  and  the  orchestra  plays, 
I  do  a  two-step  toute  seule  in  the  shadow  of 
the  deck  canvas,  and  play  that  I  am  erste 
klasse. 

To-morrow  we  land  at  Cherbourg.  We 
shall  spend  a  few  days  in  Paris,  and  then 
take  ship  again  at  Marseilles. 

November  8th. 

Here  we  are  in  the  Red  Sea — gasping  for 
breath,  perspiring  in  the  thinnest  muslins, 
stretched  across  our  deck-chairs  limp  as  rags. 
I  never  knew  how  to  spell  the  word  heat 
before.  I  am  thinking  of  asking  the  captain 
to  turn  backwards  for  a  space  to  catch  some 
of  the  speed  breeze  we  have  created  during 
our  progress  down. 

The  visible  shore  on  our  left  consists  of 
mountains  and  desolation.  Yesterday  we 
passed  the  Sinaitic  Range,  any  one  of  whose 
fifty  peaks  you  are  at  liberty  to  select  as  that 
upon  which  Moses  stood. 

The  sea  is  so  blue  that  it  looks  as  if  it  were 
coloured  with  Diamond  Dyes — doubtless  the 
reason  for  its  being  named  Red.  And  the 
sunsets  !  Not  gorgeous,  like  those  at  home, 
where  the  sun  dips  down  into  the  lake,  but 
just  a  wonderful  blend  of  greenish  lemon  and 
delicate  rose  which  is  warm  and  soft  and 


16          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

tender,  and  so  near  that  you  seem  to  be 
included  in  the  affection  of  it.  And  the 
nights  !  There  is  such  a  lack  of  atmosphere 
that  the  stars  seem  near  enough  to  tempt 
you  to  stretch  forth  a  hand  to  clutch  one. 

There  is  no  use  in  my  trying  to  tell  you  of 
my  trip  across  the  continent,  or  how  I  bit  my 
lips  until  the  blood  came  in  order  to  keep 
back  the  tears  when,  at  Cherbourg,  we  bade 
farewell  to  our  Atlantic  steamer — the  last 
link  between  me  and  home.  My  heart,  my 
past — everything — seemed  then  to  have  been 
left  in  another  world.  In  the  future  I  must 
spread  my  sails  upon  untried  seas. 

Paris  was  a  dream  of  joy.  In  the  Mediter 
ranean,  instead  of  sunny  skies  and  placid 
waters,  we  experienced  a  terrific  storm.  Only 
a  half-dozen  men  and  myself  were  seen  above 
deck,  and  I  had  finally  to  succumb,  after  the 
wind  had  picked  me  up  bodily — chair  and 
all — and  hurled  me  against  the  railing.  It 
was  fascinating  to  see  the  sailors  prepare  the 
boats  for  emergencies.  The  Hindu  Laskars, 
who  had  appeared  so  picturesque  in  Mar 
seilles  Harbour,  with  their  blue  mother  hub- 
bards,  yellow  sashes  and  red  turbans,  now 
looked  pinched  and  frozen  in  one  blue  jean 
garment,  with  uncovered  heads  and  bare  feet. 

At  Port  Said  we  went  ashore,  and  had  no 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          17 

sooner  made  our  appearance  than  we  imme 
diately  became  the  targets  for  the  maimed, 
the  halt,  the  blind,  street  venders,  guides, 
cabmen  and  what  not.  But  we  took  neither 
carriage,  donkey,  camel,  nor  tram.  You 
should  see  the  tram  !  It  is  the  funniest  little 
plaything  imaginable.  The  track  is  no  wider 
than  my  two  feet  are  long  ;  the  car  is  drawn 
by  one  lean,  little  pony,  and  if  you  want  to 
stop  him,  you  rap  violently  with  your  um 
brella  upon  whatever  is  nearest  at  hand. 

The  Suez  Canal  presents  another  study  of 
the  West  in  the  East,  for  here  a  noisy  train 
dashes  along,  without,  apparently,  disturbing 
the  serenity  of  the  camels  that  pace  along  in 
stately  fashion,  bearing  one  or  two  Arabs  on 
one  or  both  humps.  At  sunset  time  an  Arab 
camp  may  now  and  again  be  seen  outlined 
against  the  sky,  the  camels  contentedly 
munching,  and  the  dusky-skinned  men  kneel 
ing  with  their  faces  towards  Mecca. 

My  newly-made  English  friends  are  a 
never-ending  source  of  delight.  One  of 
them  is  so  glad  of  an  opportunity  to  learn 
the  pronunciation  of  some  American  names 
— she  has  always  given  to  Illinois,  Joliet  and 
such  the  proper  French,  and  has  called  Mich 
igan  "  Mitchigan,"  and  Missouri,  "  Miss  Sour 
Eye."  My  cabin  mate  is  an  especially  charm- 


18         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

ing  girl,  and  we  usually  close  the  day  with  a 
pillow-fight  as  a  fitting  expression  of  our 
mutual  contempt.  I  have  to  be  constantly 
on  the  alert  to  understand  English  as  "  she 
is  spoke,"  and  have  resigned  myself  to  the 
distinction  of  speaking  in  an  unknown 
tongue. 

Yesterday,  one  old  lady  of  quality  took  me 
aside  to  labour  with  me  about  the  folly  of 
throwing  away  my  life  in  India.  She  has  no 
use  for  missionaries,  it  seems,  but  likes  me 
very  much. 

At  this  moment  I  know  you  are  sound 
asleep,  and  the  old  sun,  which  is  scorching  us 
so  zealously,  has  not  yet  penetrated  into  your 
corner  of  the  earth.  Sleep  on,  Liebchen, 
and  rest,  and  be  ready  for  your  lonely  little 
doctor  after  the  years  have  passed. 

Hotel  Esplanade, 
Bomb  ay  y  Nov.  20  y  /p — . 

Eleanor  dear  : 

Bombay  is  the  most  fascinating  city 
you  have  ever  dreamed  of !  Why,  I  could 
sit  here  on  my  little  individual  balcony  all 
day  long  and  do  nothing  but  gaze  at  the 
changing,  brilliant  throngs  in  the  streets  be 
low.  There  are  coolies  with  baskets  on  their 
heads ;  road-workers  clad  only  in  a  loin* 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          19 

cloth  ;  beggar  boys  with  a  whine ;  men  wear 
ing  white  turbans,  black  English  coats,  with 
brown  legs  bare  ;  men  with  white  drapes  and 
yellow  ones ;  market-girls  with  jewels  in 
their  noses  ;  Parsee  women  in  dazzling  and 
costly  raiment ;  English  and  native  officials 
rolling  about  in  their  carriages ;  horse-cars 
laden  with  soldiers  and  natives,  and  bullocks 
drawing  cart-loads  of  strange-looking  indi 
viduals  of  many  sorts.  Across  the  road  is  a 
beautiful  garden,  where  hoarse-voiced  birds 
dart  among  the  trees  ;  to  the  left  may  be  seen 
the  blue  waters  of  the  harbour,  dotted  with 
sails — and  all  under  a  cloudless  sky. 

On  the  pavement  below  a  snake-charmer 
has  just  finished  his  performance,  and  now 
looks  up  at  me  with  expectant  eye  and  out 
stretched  hand.  His  cobras,  with  their  awful 
hoods  outspread,  and  his  boa  constrictor, 
make  my  very  blood  run  cold,  but  in  their 
sham  fights  with  a  fierce  little  mongoose,  the 
mongoose  always  came  off  victorious.  It  is 
remarkable  how  these  magicians  make  a 
mango-tree  grow  up  before  your  eyes,  and 
bear  fruit,  too,  which  the  performer  always 
eats.  He  murdered  a  baby,  thrusting  it 
through  and  through  with  a  knife,  and  then 
suddenly  it  sprang  up  quite  intact.  The 
grand  finale  was  his  climbing  a  rope  sus- 


20          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

pended  from  nothing,  both  he  and  the  rope 
finally  disappearing  in  smoke.  Oh,  I  am  in 
the  Orient  all  right,  without  joking ! 

I  scarcely  get  myself  comfortably  settled 
to  write  a  letter  when  I  must  up  and  away  to 
eat — that  being,  apparently,  the  chief  occu 
pation  in  this  city.  There  is  chota  hazri  (lit 
tle  breakfast)  at  6 : 30 ;  breakfast  from  9  to 
10  ;  tiffin  from  2  to  3  ;  tea  at  4 : 30,  and  din 
ner  at  7  : 45.  The  last  is  quite  a  festive  oc 
casion,  with  all  the  men  and  women  in  even 
ing  dress,  while  the  servants,  dazzling  in 
gaily  coloured  turbans,  and  purple  and  gold 
belts  over  their  white  suits,  glide  noiselessly 
about  on  their  unshod  feet.  Punkahs,  sus 
pended  from  the  ceiling,  and  worked  by 
coolies  outside,  serve  to  keep  the  air  in  mo 
tion.  These  are  the  days  when  I  am  glad  of 
my  pretty  frocks. 

My  room  is  high  and  airy,  with  a  white 
catafalque  for  a  bed.  The  hall  is  full  of 
servants,  representing  many  castes  and  divi 
sions  of  labour — one  to  answer  the  bell, 
another  to  make  the  bed,  another  to  bring 
tea,  still  another  to  prepare  the  bath,  and  so 
on. 

Last  Wednesday  I  took  tiffin  at  the  uni 
versity  settlement,  where  four  young  women 
from  Cambridge  are  living  and  working 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          21 

among  the  Parsee  students.  There  are  forty 
of  these  Parsee  young  women  now  studying 
medicine  in  the  city,  besides  many  more 
taking  the  regular  literary  course  in  the 
university  and  colleges.  The  same  day  I 
visited  the  mission  blind  school.  It  is  such 
an  interesting,  sad,  bright  place,  where  the 
children — all  left-overs  from  the  last  famine 
— read,  and  sing,  and  play  the  baby  organs 
remarkably  well.  One  dear  little  thing  had 
been  left  by  the  roadside  to  perish  by  her 
unfeeling  parents,  and  she  looked  at  the  sun 
so  long  that  her  eyes  were  completely  ruined. 
Yesterday  I  received  a  call  from  some 
antiquated-looking  Americans — members  of 
my  own  mission — who  gave  me  a  most 
hearty  welcome.  Each  wore  a  frock  indica 
tive  of  the  year  she  came  out,  and  spoke  the 
particular  twang  of  her  native  state,  strangely 
modified  by  broad  a's  and  quickly  clipped 
last  syllables.  In  the  evening,  Miss  Skinner 
— the  short  and  fat — and  Miss  Bouncer — the 
tall  and  thin — took  me  for  a  drive,  and  I  dis 
covered  them  to  be  the  j  oiliest,  loveliest 
bodies  imaginable.  The  drive  was  a  continu 
ous  delight,  through  kaleidoscopic  changes 
— past  corpses  wrapped  in  sheets  and  borne 
of  four ;  past  pariahs,  students,  Parsees,  the 
Hanging  Gardens,  the  Towers  of  Silence, 


22         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

where  the  Parsee  dead  are  devoured  by 
vultures,  then  on  by  the  pretty  bungalows  on 
Malabar  Drive,  and  at  the  end  feathery  palms 
against  a  lurid,  sunset  sky.  We  drove  home 
under  the  new  moon. 

You  would  laugh  to  see  me  in  dark  goggles, 
a  huge  solar  topee  which  sits  way  down  over 
my  shoulders,  and  with  my  umbrella  with  a 
white  shroud  on  it ;  but  Miss  Skinner  insisted 
upon  this  accoutrement  as  soon  as  she  learned 
of  my  severe  headaches.  She  says  it  is  the 
sun.  If  I  should  get  softening  of  the  brain  ! 

Miss  Bouncer  conveys  me  to  my  station 
up-country  to-morrow.  She  is  of  the  heroic 
type,  which  wades  rivers  infested  with  croco 
diles  ;  pursues  burglars  who  run  off  with  her 
strong  box  ;  preaches  in  the  strongholds  of 
heathenism,  and  considers  herself  peculiarly 
blest  if  she  gets  a  stoning  or  two  thrown 
in.  (Inwardly  I  am  thanking  my  lucky  stars 
for  that  revolver  which  was  given  me  years 
ago.)  I  am  sure  she  is  disappointed  in  me — 
she  is  so  serious,  and  has  no  use  whatever 
for  things  frivolous. 

Dr.  Jenkins,  of  our  mission,  is  down  with 
bubonic  plague — happy  prospect,  eh  ?  Of 
course  he  will  die.  I  had  not  anticipated 
the  proximity  of  plague,  but  Frida  will  be 
found  game,  never  fear  ! 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          23 


Madhole>  Indiay  Dec.  30, 
My  dearest  Eleanor  ; 

After  many  days !  Although  I  am 
really  not  doing  anything  aside  from  study 
ing,  my  time  seems  to  be  too  full  for  writing 
many  letters.  What  will  it  be  when  I  am 
really  into  the  work  ? 

Madhole  (appropriately  named,  if  it  were 
not  pronounced  Mudhole)  is  a  wretched  little 
town  made  up  of  adobe  huts  and  cactus- 
bordered  lanes.  The  mission  compound  is, 
fortunately,  in  the  suburbs,  so  that  we  escape, 
to  a  large  extent,  the  disgusting  sights  and 
smells  of  native  life.  There  is  a  large  Chris 
tian  community  here ;  all  of  the  people  are 
very  friendly,  and  are  eager  to  shake  hands 
a  V  Occident ;  but  when  one  becomes  aware 
of  their  divers  skin  diseases  one  is  not  very 
anxious  to  reciprocate.  We  have  a  pleasant 
household — Mr.  Gray,  a  jolly,  little,  old  man 
who  keeps  us  all  from  becoming  morbid  ;  his 
daughter ;  and  three  spinsters  besides.  My 
never-ending  source  of  amusement,  however, 
is  the  pundit  Bhow,  a  dignified  and  stately 
Brahmin  who  comes  every  day  to  give  me 
my  language  lesson.  No  matter  how  many 
terrible  blunders  I  make,  he  always  assures 
me  that  my  accent  is  perfect,  and  that,  under 
his  choice  tutelage,  I  shall  soon  speak  like  a 


24          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

native  born.  It  is  my  private  opinion,  how 
ever,  that  he  is  much  more  interested  in 
improving  his  English  than  my  Marathi.  I 
love  to  hear  him  talk.  He  says  that  dear, 
jolly,  little  Mr.  Gray  is  a  fierce  and  angry 
man,  whom  he  fears  very  much.  He  hates 
the  English  and  Mohammedans,  but  says 
Americans  are  pious  fellows,  who  sent  corn 
to  India  during  the  recent  famine.  He  does 
not,  however,  approve  of  American  women, 
who,  he  says,  are  much  educated,  and  quarrel 
with  the  government  for  a  seat  in  Parliament, 
while  a  Hindu  woman  disobeys  her  husband 
at  the  risk  of  a  beating,  or  even  her  life. 
One  day  he  took  Miss  Gray  and  me  to  see 
his  garden  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town,  where 
banana  and  fig  trees  alternate  with  masses  of 
red  and  white  oleander  bloom,  beautiful  roses 
and  fragrant  jasmine,  and  a  deep  well  looks 
cool  and  refreshing  in  the  shade  of  a  group 
of  mango  trees.  As  we  were  taking  our  leave 
Bhow  presented  us  with  some  sugar-cane, 
throwing  the  stalks  at  our  feet.  I  was  too 
indignant  to  pick  them  up,  but  Miss  Gray, 
who  is  better  trained  in  the  customs  of  the 
country,  did  so  without  hesitation,  explaining 
to  me  that  the  man's  caste  would  be  irrevo 
cably  broken  if  he  actually  gave  us  anything 
with  his  hands — so  holy  is  he,  so  vile  are  we. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          25 

It  is  a  poor  rule  though  which  will  not  work 
both  ways,  so  the  next  day,  instead  of  handing 
him  the  reading  book,  I  threw  it  on  the  floor  at 
his  feet.  He  very  angrily  picked  it  up,  asking 
me  why  I  had  done  that,  and  I  replied  that 
from  the  previous  day's  experience  I  had 
concluded  that  he  preferred  that  custom. 
Evidently,  however,  he  does  not,  for  he  re 
marked  that  when  in  an  American's  bungalow 
he  conforms  to  American  customs. 

Last  week  I  suggested  to  him  that  he  go 
down  to  a  native  Christian  dinner  where  they 
were  serving  some  very  savoury  meat,  but  he 
was  horrified,  and  exclaimed  :  "  Ah,  you  eat 
our  gods  !  All  India  weeps  for  her  cows, 
which  you  Europeans  are  killing  !  Yes,  you 
eat  our  gods — cruel  people !  But  it  is 
through  ignorance — some  day,  when  you  are 
educated,  you  will  know  better  ! "  I  could 
not  resist  citing  Swami  Vivekananda  as  a 
shining  light  of  his  religion,  for  you  remem 
ber  how  he  used  to  enjoy  his  beefsteak  din 
ners  in  the  Chicago  restaurants  during  the 
Parliament  of  Religions  in  '93.  It  was  a 
terrible  shock  to  poor  Bhow,  but  he  rose  to 
the  occasion,  and  said  the  Swami  had  reached 
such  a  degree  of  holiness  and  perfection  that 
he  could  do  anything  and  it  would  not  be 
sin.  Hence  he  could  lie  about  it  without 


26          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

hesitation  after  being  restored  to  the  bosom 
of  his  caste  in  India.  Yet  it  is  some  satisfac 
tion  to  know  that  he  was  not  restored  to  that 
select  and  holy  estate  without  having  par 
taken  of  the  five  products  of  the  holy  cow. 

It  is  awful  to  have  the  fact  forced  upon  one 
that  these  people  do  actually  worship  the 
bovine  species.  I  have  seen  boys  of  twelve 
years  reverently  bend  and  fervently  kiss  the 
tail  of  a  cow  in  the  bazaar  streets,  where  the 
animals  are  permitted  to  invade  the  grain 
booths  and  to  help  themselves  to  such  choice 
morsels  as  their  appetite  demands.  It  is  a 
crime  to  kill  a  beef  in  this  native  state,  so  we 
solace  ourselves  with  goat. 

Two  weeks  ago  this  mission  celebrated  its 
fiftieth  anniversary  by  holding  a  great  feast 
in  an  ancient  grove  ten  miles  away.  There 
were  about  a  thousand  Christians  there,  of 
whom  the  women  were  perfectly  and  su 
perbly  oriental,  with  their  splendid  eyes  and 
curving  lips ;  and  wearing  their  brilliant- 
hued  saris,  silver  anklets,  glass  bracelets,  and 
nose  and  earrings  with  a  charming  grace. 
It  was  as  good  as  a  play  to  see  them  there, 
against  a  background  of  ancient  trees,  from 
which  monkeys  peeped  chattering  down, 
while  the  bright  sunlight  flickered  through 
the  branches  and  quivered  over  the  leaves. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA.          27 

I  have  avoided  all  professional  work  the 
better  to  study,  but  one  night  soon  after  my 
arrival  I  accompanied  one  of  the  sisters  to  a 
neighbouring  village  to  see  some  very  sick 
folk.  We  rode  over  on  bicycles,  and  had  no 
very  great  mishaps,  though  I  once  plunged 
headlong  into  a  huge  cactus-bush,  scratching 
out  both  my  eyes — upon  which  I  did  the 
classical  act  of  scratching  them  in  again.  I 
can  feel  those  thorns  yet !  It  was  as  much 
as  our  lives  were  worth  to  get  into  the 
native  huts,  and  I  had  to  call  some  one 
to  hold  the  buffaloes  and  goats  as  I 
stepped  gingerly  past.  The  family,  num 
bering  anywhere  from  six  to  twenty — with 
the  quadrupeds  and  chickens — made  quite  a 
roomful. 

Yesterday  I  went  to  a  native  Christian 
wedding.  Many  guests  had  assembled,  and 
the  ceremony  had  progressed  to  the  point 
where  Mr.  Gray  asked  the  bride  :  "  Do  you 
take  this  man  to  love,  cherish,  and  obey" — 
when  the  young  woman  in  the  case  re 
sponded  with  a  surprising  and  unmistakable 
"  No."  Mr.  Gray  laboured  with  her  in  an 
undertone,  but  to  no  avail.  The  marriage 
had,  as  usual,  been  arranged  by  the  parents, 
without  consulting  the  daughter.  But  it  is 
an  almost  unknown  thing  for  a  girl  to  be  so 


28          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

bold  and  disobedient — I  predict  a  great  fu 
ture  for  her  ! 

Mr.  Gray  then  explained  the  situation  to 
the  assembled  guests  and  asked  for  volun 
teers  to  supply  the  vacancy.  A  young  lady 
promptly  came  forward,  and  the  ceremony 
proceeded  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  Af 
terwards,  the  bridal  pair  left  the  altar  by  dif 
ferent  aisles  to  hold  a  reception  under  a  tree, 
where  congratulations  and  rice  were  poured 
upon  them.  The  groom  placed  a  silver  ring 
upon  the  great  toe  of  the  bride's  left  foot, 
while  a  "  best  man  "  tied  the  former's  neck- 
scarf  to  the  end  of  the  latter' s  flowing  gar 
ment,  and  thus  they  sat  in  state  for  some 
hours. 

Christmas  was  too  forlorn  a  day  for  me  to 
tell  you  anything  about  it. 

February  jd. 

I  am  learning  of  enough  tragedies  in  this 
dreadful  land  to  keep  my  hair  standing  on 
end  three-quarters  of  the  time.  I  do  not 
know  how  it  happens  that  there  are  so  many 
girls  from  heathen  families  here  in  the  mis 
sion  school,  but  I  suppose  it  is  on  account  of 
the  commercial  spirit  of  the  parents,  who  are 
glad  to  escape  the  responsibility  and  neces 
sity  of  supporting  them.  Many  wee  things, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          29 

reputed  to  be  orphans,  were  left  here  during 
the  recent  terrible  famine,  but  when  those 
panicky  days  were  past  the  parents  appeared, 
in  the  hope,  I  fancy,  of  personal  profit,  or 
possibly  they  were  actuated  by  a  latent  spark 
of  parental  affection. 

An  awful  thing  has  just  happened.  One 
of  these  girls,  about  eleven  or  twelve  years 
old,  unusually  bright  and  attractive,  and  be 
ginning  to  call  herself  a  Christian  in  a  timid, 
pretty  way,  has  been  taken  by  her  old  heathen 
mother  for  a  religious  sacrifice.  Would  to 
God  it  had  been  to  be  crushed  under  the 
wheels  of  the  car  of  a  Juggernaut,  or  to  be  cast 
into  the  arms  of  a  Moloch  !  Either  would 
have  been  bliss  compared  with  what  she  has  be 
fore  her.  The  rite  is  called  marriage  to  a  god 
— an  ugly  little  stone  image  sitting  in  front  of 
an  ugly  little  temple — which  introduces  the 
poor  thing  at  once  to  a  life  of  shame.  Hence 
forth  she  has  no  hope,  no  redress,  no  choice ; 
she  is  bound  there  in  the  chains  of  caste  and 
custom,  and  a  vile  ignorance.  And  she  so 
young !  She  will  not  live  many  years,  and 
that  is  our  only  comfort.  Mr.  and  Miss  Gray 
tried  in  every  way  to  save  her,  but  the  brutal 
mother  has  the  law,  the  sentiment  of  the 
people,  and  the  religion  of  the  country  on  her 
side,  so  she  took  the  child  by  force,  and  we 


30          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

are  helpless.  You  cannot  conceive  of  the 
moral  degradation  of  this  people,  indicated 
by  the  low  castes  in  such  ways  as  this,  and  by 
the  higher  castes  in  ways  which  I  have  yet 
to  learn  ;  but  it  is  always  a  matter  of  religion 
and  most  religious  rites  are  accompanied  by 
the  most  immoral  sentiments  and  deeds. 
Every  day  I  go  for  a  walk  across  the  maidan. 
At  such  times  the  very  atmosphere  seems 
pregnant  with  evil,  pressing  against  one  like 
a  tangible  thing,  and  crushing  down  one's 
spirit  like  a  weight  of  blackness.  The  very 
earth  cries  out — to  me  it  seems  soaked  in  the 
blood  of  innocent  children  sacrificed  to  the 
lust  and  crime  of  an  effete  people. 

But  in  spite  of  the  country  and  the  inhab 
itants  thereof,  a  glorious  moon  rides  serenely 
in  the  heavens  at  night,  enveloping  the  land 
in  a  silver  flood  and  making  a  shimmering 
fairy  domain  of  the  pitiless,  God-forsaken 
place.  The  days  have  been  so  hot  lately 
that  we  have  taken  to  playing  badminton  by 
moonlight,  and  it  is  great  sport. 

We  are  having  delicious  eating  these  days 
— bananas,  oranges,  guavas,  custard-apples, 
papayas,  fresh  beans  and  peas,  and  many 
other  good  things,  most  of  them  growing  in 
Mr.  Gray's  tiny  garden,  which  flourishes 
back  of  the  bungalow. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA         31 

From  the  town  comes  constantly  the  sound 
of  wailing — mourning  for  the  dead ;  for 
plague  has  not  spared  this  village,  and  now 
bids  fair  to  depopulate  it. 

Walking  through  a  cocoanut  grove  last 
evening  we  were  severely  pelted  by  a  band 
of  monkeys,  whether  in  fun  or  in  anger  we 
were  unable  to  determine.  In  any  event,  we 
should  have  had  no  redress — since  the  people 
hold  this  handsome  animal  sacred,  and  would 
have  mobbed  us  had  we  lifted  so  much  as  a 
finger  against  one.  It  seems  that  monkeys 
were  instrumental  in  helping  the  god  Ram 
out  of  sundry  scrapes  while  he  was  dwelling 
upon  the  earth — hence  the  worship. 

We  go  to  the  hills  in  March,  for  the  heat 
is  already  very  oppressive,  and  my  head 
aches  at  the  slightest  provocation. 

Norheim,  Mhableshwar,  April  2,  /p — . 
Beloved  : 

Has  not  that  a  homey  look  ?  And  it 
is  a  homey  place,  with  the  most  gorgeous 
view  you  could  imagine  !  Nature  has  cut 
out  an  immense  cleft  from  the  rocky  range 
directly  in  front,  so  we  seem  always  to  be 
looking  at  a  framed  picture  of  distant  hill 
and  valley,  where  lights  and  shadows  play 
hide-and-seek,  and  the  mists  creep  softly  in 


32          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

between.  At  twilight  all  below  is  a  sea  of 
billowy  clouds,  all  above  a  mellow,  golden 
glory. 

Now  that  I  am  settling  down  and  becom 
ing  dignified  and  serious,  some  of  my  con 
freres  have  told  me  their  first  opinion  of  me, 
to  the  effect  that  I  should  much  better  have 
chosen  the  stage  for  a  career  than  the  mission 
field.  How  is  that  for  an  aspiring  M.  D.  ? 

This  morning  I  was  giving  vent  to  my 
feelings  at  the  baby  organ — some  of  those 
songs,  you  know,  which  take  a  rather  high 
lilt — when  I  saw  the  shadow  of  my  new  and 
stately  pundit  pass  the  window.  I  finished 
my  strain  before  going  to  the  door,  and 
what  do  you  think  I  saw  ?  He  was  leaning 
against  a  veranda  pillar  simply  convulsed 
with  laughter !  I  had  never  known  him 
even  to  smile  before,  but  my  performance 
had  been  too  much  for  his  gravity.  We 
amuse  them  as  much  as  they  do  us.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  first  native  singing  I  heard 
at  divine  service  in  Madhole,  when  I  could 
only  save  my  face  by  burying  it  in  my  topee, 
whence  it  emerged  wet  with  tears  incident  to 
excessive  laughter.  The  brethren  thought 
it  had  been  a  wave  of  homesickness. 

These  certainly  are  the  craziest  people  ! 
The  tailors  sew  from  them  instead  of  towards 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          33 

them  ;  their  affirmative  motion  of  the  head  is 
our  negative  ;  their  beckoning  with  the  hand 
is  our  gesture  of  repulsion.  They  put  all 
the  door-latches  on  upside  down  and  on  the 
wrong  side  of  the  door,  and  everything  is 
backward,  twisted,  perverted. 

There  dines  with  us  to-day  a  faith  mission 
ary  who  is  noted  for  her  ability  in  praying 
down  money  and  all  sorts  of  blessings  for  her 
famine  orphans,  but  who  always  forgets  to 
pray  down  any  luxuries  for  herself.  She  has 
grown  entirely  out  of  the  ways  of  the  world  ; 
has  nearly  forgotten  the  English  language, 
and  so  can  scarcely  converse  with  her  own 
kind,  but  she  has  a  sweet,  spirituelle  face — it 
is  the  face  of  a  saint.  Can  you  think  of  me 
as  ever  being  like  that? 

We  of  our  own  mission  are  a  sorry  lot,  for 
all  the  old  ones  are  on  their  last  pegs,  and 
the  young  ones  are  convalescing  from  plague, 
whooping-cough,  measles,  or  some  such 
thing.  Even  I  am  losing  the  smile  which 
formerly  would  not  come  off.  Such  is  life  in 
India. 

Karad,  July  /,  19 — . 
Dear,  blessed  Eleanor : 

If  it  had  not  been  for  your  cheerful 
letters  I  should  have  died  a  thousand  deaths 
long  ere  this.  I  used  to  think  I  was  a  pretty 


34          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

hard-worked  girl  while  taking  my  medical 
course  and  interning  in  the  city  hospital, 
but  it  could  not  hold  a  candle  to  this.  I  get 
up  every  morning  at  six  o'clock,  swallow  my 
chota  hazri,  rush  over  to  the  hospital  annex 
to  deliver  a  lecture  to  the  medical  students, 
make  hospital  rounds,  go  to  dispensary,  have 
breakfast,  then  go  to  the  operating-room, 
after  which  I  have  tiffin,  tennis,  bath,  dinner, 
and  preparation  of  lecture. 

At  present  I  am  demonstrating  myself  an 
oracle  on  the  subject  of  chemistry  and  talk  an 
hour  every  day  in  pursuance  thereof,  with 
an  occasional  quiz  interspersed.  The  boys 
ask  the  most  absurd  questions,  and  during 
the  first  days  would  rise  in  a  body  as  I 
entered  the  class-room,  greeting  me  with 
"  Good-night,  sir." 

All  new  missionaries  are  supposed  to  take 
the  first  year  for  the  acquisition  of  the  lan 
guage,  but  I  was  so  eager  to  begin  work, 
and  so  at  a  loss  to  fill  the  days  with  anything 
else  than  study,  that  I  took  my  examination 
at  the  end  of  six  months.  It  has  served  one 
purpose  at  least — to  convince  the  pious  that 
though  wofully  lacking  in  grace,  I  may 
possess  a  little  gray  matter  and  so  be  of  some 
use  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Last   week   we  attended  a  formal  dinner 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          35 

given  by  the  premier  of  a  neighbouring 
native  state.  All  the  guests  were  Europeans 
excepting  two  or  three  Brahmins,  who,  how 
ever,  would  not  pollute  themselves  by  sitting 
at  table  with  us.  An  orchestra,  concealed 
behind  a  bank  of  palms,  played  some  lively 
airs,  and  I  shocked  my  neighbours  on  both 
sides  by  audibly  expressing  my  desire  to 
dance,  while  the  good  sister  opposite  me  sat 
with  an  open  Bible  in  her  tap  from  which  she 
extracted  texts  for  the  edification  of  her  escort. 
I  hope  she  did  not  call  him  a  lost  and  miser 
able  sinner,  and  that  he  did  not  suffer  from  a 
subsequent  attack  of  indigestion  induced  by 
an  unhappy  frame  of  mind. 

In  the  midst  of  the  tiger  jungle  and  cobra's 
den,  I  am  living  in  a  tent,  and  shall  continue 
to  do  so  until  the  present  congestion  of  the 
station  is  relieved  by  some  one's  going  on 
furlough,  when  I  shall  have  a  roof  to  protect 
me  from  the  sun  by  day  and  the  moon  by 
night.  This  canvas  roof  affords  but  little 
protection  from  the  fierce  tropical  sun,  to 
which  I  find  myself  very  susceptible.  Not 
long  since  one  of  our  men  had  to  leave  this 
latitude  forever,  having  suffered  so  many 
sun  attacks  that  he  could  not  bear  even  the 
light  of  the  moon,  and  always  had  to  wear 
his  solar  topee  on  a  bright  moonlight  night 


36          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA. 

I  like  my  little  tent  nevertheless.  I  have 
all  my  boxes  and  trunks  draped  with  brilliant- 
hued  rugs,  and  it  looks  very  oriental. 

The  natives  are  a  constant  delight.  When 
Mrs.  White  gave  an  At  Home  to  all  the 
students,  nurses,  and  medical  helpers,  they 
came  in  the  most  picturesque  costumes. 
The  nurses  wore  sombre,  gracefully  hanging 
garments,  while  the  men  appeared  in  all  the 
colours  of  the  rainbow — turbans  of  purple,  red, 
blue,  and  orange,  and  flowing  white  robes  or 
ill-fitting  English  coats  and  trousers.  As  we 
sat  watching  them  a  sister  gave  me  some  of 
their  histories.  A  good-looking  lad,  who 
attracted  me  very  much,  has  a  Christian 
mother  and  a  heathen  father.  When  the 
mother  was  converted  her  fond  husband 
thought  to  avert  such  a  family  disgrace,  and 
threats  and  beatings  having  availed  nothing, 
all  but  cut  off  the  poor  woman's  nose.  She 
managed  to  wrench  herself  free  before  he  had 
quite  completed  his  diabolical  job,  and 
escaped,  bleeding,  to  the  mission  bungalow, 
where  she  found  a  refuge,  and  a  quick 
operation  saved  her  nose,  though  leaving 
an  ugly  scar.  She  never  returned  to  her 
cruel  husband,  and  has  developed  into  a 
rare  Christian  woman  and  an  efficient 
helper. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          37 

Karad,  Sept.  /j,  /p — . 

All  the  world  is  lame,  halt,  blind,  sick — 
mostly  from  deliberate  violation  of  Nature's 
laws,  and  God's.  Somehow  we  all  seem  to 
be  strange  perversions  of  a  good  plan,  and 
life  is  such  a  Chinese  puzzle  that  it  makes 
one  frantic  to  think  of  it. 

Still  I  love  my  work — it  would  be  unen 
durable,  maddening,  if  I  did  not.  And  those 
blessed  boys  in  the  school  are  adorable ! 
From  their  manner,  you  would  think  that 
the  only  function  of  their  otherwise  worthless 
bodies  was  for  my  seraphic  feet  to  tread 
upon.  Twice  a  week  they  come  to  the 
bungalow  for  vocal  exercise,  and  it  is  great 
fun,  for  they  are  very  ambitious  to  sing  in 
the  English  fashion.  Occasionally  they 
render  some  native  music  for  my  express 
benefit,  and  such  screaming  and  trilling, 
gestures  of  hands,  and  expressions  of  eyes, 
you  never  saw,  to  say  nothing  of  the  boom 
ing  of  their  drum  accompaniment,  and  the 
thin  picking  of  their  stringed  sathar. 

It  seems  odd,  some  way,  to  find  that  these 
dark-skinned  people  have  the  same  feelings, 
hopes  and  aspirations  as  ourselves  ;  that  they 
love  and  hate,  and  respond  to  any  interest 
shown  in  them,  exactly  as  we  do.  The 
senior  hospital  interne  is  the  dearest  boy, 


38         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

and  though  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,  his 
soul  is  as  white  as  a  woolly  lamb. 

Among  my  private  patients  is  a  lady  of 
quality,  who  comes  to  see  me  with  "  rings  in 
her  nose  and  bells  on  her  toes,"  and  anklets 
and  bracelets  a-dangling.  She  is  a  retiring, 
modest  little  thing,  somewhat  afraid  of  me, 
not  knowing — in  view  of  my  career  and  bold 
ways — whether  I  am  a  real  woman  or  not. 
I  long  for  the  time  when  I  can  be  on  really 
intimate  terms  with  such  as  she,  but  they  are 
veritable  children,  with  no  interest  above 
buttons,  and  hobnobbing  together  would  be 
as  difficult  for  me  as  for  them.  Their  con 
versation  consists  of  such  questions  as,  "  Are 
you  married  ?  Where  is  your  husband  ? 
How  many  children  have  you  ? "  and  all 
sorts  of  things  concerning  your  dress,  hair 
and  shoes.  The  blessed  state  of  spinster- 
hood  is  absolutely  inconceivable  to  them, 
besides  being  a  terrible  disgrace,  and  I  find 
myself  trying  to  excuse  this  awful  condition 
of  affairs  by  intimating  that  it  has  not  been 
from  lack  of  opportunity  but  from  choice  and 
devotion  to  my  profession.  But  they  cannot 
understand  that.  Matrimony  is  their  salva 
tion,  without  which  they  are  eternally  damned. 
By  worshipping  and  serving  a  husband  they 
may  possibly  obtain  a  taste  of  heaven — not 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA.          39 

otherwise.  You  know  Dr.  Barrows  said  the 
Hindus  believed  in  the  sisterhood  of  cows 
and  the  damnation  of  women,  and  it  is  true 
to  the  core. 

It  is  full  moon  now — you  cannot  dream  of 
the  effulgence  and  brilliance  of  it,  nor  how  it 
touches  up  this  dreadful,  cactusy  country 
into  a  poet's  idyll.  Last  night  I  was  sitting 
out  in  the  garden  drinking  in  the  beauty  of 
it  all,  when  a  strange  procession  passed,  con 
sisting  of  about  fifty  white-robed  men  carry 
ing  black  umbrellas.  I  wondered  if  they 
were  moonstruck,  and  wondered  still  more 
when  I  discovered  that  every  native  was 
doing  the  same,  excepting  the  Christians. 
To-day  the  mystery  was  explained  to  me. 
It  seems  that  once  upon  a  time  the  god 
Ganpati  was  taking  a  nice  ride  upon  a  rat, 
when  an  ill-motived  cat  pursued  the  rat,  and 
Ganpati  ignominiously  fell  off  his  noble 
steed,  whereupon  the  moon,  riding  full  and 
high  in  the  heavens,  laughed  at  his  discom 
fiture.  Filled  with  rage,  the  god  swore  that 
the  light  of  the  moon  should  nevermore 
shine  upon  man.  Hence  the  umbrellas. 
Think  of  it !  And  these  grown  men,  among 
them  Brahmins  of  wealth  and  culture  1 

Last  week  we  were  invited  to  see  the  cere 
mony  of  adopting  an  heir  to  the  throne — 


40          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

quite  a  common  custom  in  native  states 
where  there  is  no  male  issue.  When  the 
late  chief  died,  his  widow  did  her  best  to 
introduce  surreptitiously  an  imported  babe 
and  pass  it  off  as  her  own,  but  this  oriental 
trick  did  not  work  with  the  British  govern 
ment,  so  perforce  the  adopted  prince.  The 
ceremony  was  not  much  in  itself,  but  the  ori 
ental  aspect  was  a  great  deal  to  my  Western 
eyes.  As  we  drove  through  the  court  in  a 
state  carriage,  we  could  see  on  one  side  a 
regiment  of  sepoys,  flanked  by  a  turbaned 
crowd,  and  on  the  other,  guards  mounted  on 
splendid  Arabian  horses.  At  the  entrance  of 
the  durbar  hall  stood  two  huge  elephants, 
their  trunks  decorated  with  landscapes  and 
temples  done  in  gold  paint,  and  with  trap 
pings  of  velvet  and  gold.  Within,  the  ceiling 
was  a  mass  of  chandeliers  and  crystal  pend 
ants,  beneath  which  were  two  galleries  for 
the  native  women,  though  the  foreign  women 
sat  boldly  below  with  the  men. 

The  chiefs  were  decked  out  in  the  finest 
of  white  muslins,  the  richest  of  turbans,  and 
jewels  galore.  The  little  prince  who  was 
being  adopted  wore  rich  cloth-of-gold  made 
into  coat  and  trousers,  instead  of  the  grace 
ful  costume  of  the  country,  with  stiff  English 
shoes  on  his  unaccustomed  feet,  but  his 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          41 

turban  was  wrought  with  pearls  and  dia 
monds.  He  conducted  himself  with  the  ut 
most  gravity,  and  it  made  my  face  ache  to 
watch  the  solemnity  of  his.  The  grand  finale 
consisted  in  our  all  being  garlanded  with 
jasmine,  anointed  with  sandal-wood  oil,  and 
sprinkled  with  attar  of  roses,  after  which  we 
went  outside  to  see  the  games. 

Karad,  Dec.  /j,  /p — . 
Well,  Eleanor  dear,  a  year  is  past  and 
over,  and  I  still  live  to  tell  the  tale ;  but  let 
me  whisper  in  your  ear  right  now  that  if  the 
ensuing  year  proves  as  strenuous  as  the  past, 
it  will  be  but  an  animated  corpse  going 
about  her  duties  out  here  and  not  Frida  at 
all,  at  all.  Perhaps  I  was  never  intended  for  a 
bluestocking — at  any  rate  my  constitution 
does  not  seem  to  be  made  of  cast  iron,  nor 
am  I  absolutely  devoid  of  nerves  or  feeling. 
Why,  the  other  day  I  had  to  remove  some 
stitches  from  a  poor  little  childwife,  and  it  hurt 
her  so  that  I  nearly  died.  When  it  was  over  I 
just  went  and  put  my  arms  around  her  there 
on  the  operating-table  and  cried  and  cried. 
She,  poor  thing,  seemed  to  cheer  up  the 
more  I  wept  until  smiles  broke  through  her 
own  tears  and  she  began  to  comfort  me.  I 
don't  mind  these  things  when  the  patient  is 


42          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

anaesthetized,  or  when  it  is  a  big  strong 
woman,  or  best  of  all,  a  man  ;  but  a  wee,  little 
victim  of  fate  like  that,  doomed  to  suffering 
through  ignorance  and  superstition,  is  more 
than  I  can  stand. 

Oh,  Eleanor,  what  if,  after  all,  I  am  not 
fitted  for  a  career  ?  What  if  I  prove  a  weak 
ling,  with  too  much  sympathy  and  too  little 
nerve  ?  And  after  all  the  study,  and  aspi 
ration,  and  sacrifice  of  home  and  love,  and 
everything  that  a  woman  holds  most  dear! 
If  I  ever  survive  to  come  home  again  you 
will  not  love  me  any  more — when  you  see 
my  white  hair  and  wrinkles,  my  ghastly  com 
plexion,  wooden  leg,  and  glass  eye. 

But  I  am  blue  to-day ;  I  need  a  little 
change,  and  if  any  one  can  be  beguiled  into 
accompanying  me,  I  shall  certainly  go  off 
for  a  little  jaunt  soon.  I  have  taken  up  my 
language  study  again  with  all  the  rest  of  the 
work,  and  that,  I  reckon,  is  the  last  straw 
which  is  breaking  the  camel's  back.  I  shall 
try  to  do  the  year's  required  study  in  six 
months  as  before,  so  as  to  get  it  off  my 
hands,  after  which  I  can  take  my  full  share 
of  the  medical  and  surgical  work — how  I 
shall  glory  in  that !  I  am  already  desperately 
fond  of  the  filthy  old  women  and  shrieking 
babies  who  crowd  my  daily  dispensary.  One 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          43 

little  boy  "  possessed  of  a  devil "  makes  him 
self  generally  interesting  whenever  his  mother 
brings  him.  I  have  not  yet  developed  the 
powers  of  an  exorcist,  though  this  land  of  the 
mystic  cults  ought  to  develop  them. 

Every  Sunday  evening  we  have  the  stu 
dents  at  the  bungalow,  when  we  sing,  and 
repeat  Scripture  texts.  Last  Sunday  Peter 
the  Bold  sat  gravely  in  front  of  us  all,  and 
when  his  turn  came  said,  with  great  em 
phasis,  "  I  have  more  understanding  than  all 
my  teachers."  I  nearly  burst.  He  is  in 
process  of  being  tamed  and  is  very  prom 
ising. 

I  have  discovered  that  this  little  old  town 
is  a  place  of  interest  if  not  of  beauty,  for  it 
was  a  city  in  the  year  i  B.  C.,  and  its  fort  and 
citadel  were  mentioned  in  history  in  the  year 
1493,  when  America  had  hardly  put  on  its 
swaddling  clothes.  The  strange  thing  about 
it  all  is  that  everything  is  the  same  to-day  as 
it  was  thousands  of  years  ago ;  the  same 
names,  the  same  primitive  customs  and 
graceful  styles.  No  wonder  these  people  are 
driven  to  worship  their  past — that  is  about 
all  they  have ;  at  least  I  would  not  give  a 
picayune  for  their  present. 

Could  you  ever  have  a  cold,  shiny,  slippery 
lizard  for  a  pet?  I  have  many  of  them,  and 


44          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

it  is  no  end  of  fun  to  watch  them  play  tag  on 
the  wall  or  to  see  one  leave  his  tail  a  trophy 
to  the  foe — he  soon  grows  another. 

To-day  a  Jain  funeral  procession  passed 
the  compound.  The  corpse,  swathed  in 
white,  was  sitting  upright  upon  the  bier, 
which  was  carried  by  several  men.  He  had 
for  decoration  a  floating  banner  of  red,  and 
some  branches  from  the  plantain  tree,  and 
for  a  funeral  dirge  the  monotonous  tooting 
of  some  wind  instrument.  He  was  buried  in 
a  shallow  grave,  still  sitting. 

Rites  of  another  fashion  were  performed 
just  outside  the  compound  the  other  day, 
where  a  band  of  rovers  or  gypsies  from  the 
mountains  were  encamped.  One  of  them 
was  ill  with  plague,  and  his  clansmen  spared 
nothing  to  compass  his  recovery,  which 
means  that  a  sacrifice  and  its  attendant  cere 
monies  were  performed  under  our  very  eyes. 
Amid  great  noise  and  frenzy  on  the  part  of 
the  women,  eight  goats  were  slain,  while  in 
cantations  and  mad  dancings  progressed 
without  interruption.  The  poor  plague  vic 
tim,  who  had  been  made  to  walk  to  the  scene 
of  this  wild  orgy,  and  stand  during  the  cere 
mony,  died  within  a  few  hours,  and  his  de 
mise  was  announced  at  midnight  by  the 
wildest  cries  and  the  weirdest  chants. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          45 

Now  I  must  go  out  "  to  eat  the  air,"  as  the 
natives  have  it. 

December  ijth. 

A  rest  is  in  view !  Miss  Pentup  has  con 
sented  to  go  with  me  for  a  holiday  and  we 
shall  have  a  great  lark. 

Cawnpore,  Jan.  2,  19 — . 
My  dear  Eleanor  : 

I  have  been  trying  ever  since  Christ 
mas  to  write  and  thank  you  for  your  part  in 
that  adorable  box.  Anyway,  words  cannot 
express  all  I  feel,  but  if  I  had  you  here  as  well 
as  a  few  other  people,  I  would  squeeze  you 
all  within  an  inch  of  your  lives.  It  came 
two  days  before  Christmas,  and  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  we  are  limited  as  to  luggage 
when  travelling,  I  managed  to  pack  some  of 
my  new  things  to  bring  with  me. 

Miss  Pentup  and  I  had  Christmas  Eve  in 
our  station  with  the  rest,  taking  the  train  for 
Bombay  at  ten  o'clock.  Tell  it  not  in  Gath, 
but  we  are  travelling  third-class  because  it  is 
so  cheap — less  than  one  cent  per  mile — and 
we  are  going  so  far.  On  a  third-class  ticket 
you  can  take  hand-baggage  only,  and  you 
should  have  seen  ours  !  An  immense  roll  of 
bedding,  with  rugs  and  cushions,  three  dress- 
suit  cases,  two  small  grips,  two  tin  hat-boxes  ; 


46          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

umbrellas,  sun  topees,  and  lunch  boxes.  In 
this  country  we  omit  the  cat  and  the  canary. 

We  travelled  all  night,  arriving  at  Bombay 
at  ten  in  the  morning.  We  put  our  stuff  in 
the  care  of  the  ayah  at  the  station  ;  changed 
our  clothes ;  took  a  carriage,  and  started  out 
to  celebrate.  As  we  drove  past  the  cathedral 
whom  should  we  meet  just  coming  out  from 
service  but  the  McFaddens,  acquaintances  of 
last  hot  season.  They  pinned  us  down 
until  we  had  to  tell  our  plans,  so  what  did 
they  do  but  insist  upon  our  going  up  to  their 
lovely  bungalow  for  tiffin  and  tea,  sending  us 
to  our  train  later  in  their  private  carriage. 

We  remained  three  days  at  Allahabad, 
and  had  a  glorious  time  visiting  a  friend  of 
mine  who  kept  us  busy  with  drives,  teas,  and 
At  Homes.  In  the  native  quarters  great 
preparations  were  going  on  for  the  annual 
pilgrimage.  We  visited  the  scene  of  the  fair 
which,  two  weeks  later,  would  be  swarming 
with  millions  of  Hindus.  Many  tiny  flags 
were  floating  in  the  breeze,  each  one  indicat 
ing  the  location  of  a  holy  man,  some  with 
their  platforms  of  spikes  ready  to  sit  or  lie 
upon,  others  cataleptically  fixed  in  strained 
positions — often  an  arm  has  been  upheld 
until  it  becomes  withered  and  useless.  Some 
of  the  fakirs  were  sleek  and  well-fed,  and 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          47 

covered  with  ashes,  basking  in  the  sun. 
Others  were  thin  and  wasted,  having  meas 
ured  their  length  in  the  dust  some  hundreds 
of  miles.  Here  and  there  would  be  one  with 
an  iron  thrust  through  his  flesh. 

But  enough  !  With  such  ideals  how  can 
these  people  be  anything  but  liars,  thieves, 
adulterers,  murderers?  If  enthusiastic  Ameri 
can  theosophists  would  come  and  see  their 
cult  in  all  its  practical  workings,  they  might 
sing  a  different  song. 

But  on  to  Benares — Oriental,  crowded, 
insolent.  Fortunately,  however,  we  could 
not  understand  the  insolence,  since  they 
spoke  in  a  tongue  unknown  to  us.  The  only 
way  to  keep  them  to  the  smooth  and  oily 
manner  which  we  are  accustomed  to  expect 
in  other  parts  of  India  is  to  scatter  silver 
with  great  prodigality,  and  this  is,  of  course, 
impossible  to  poverty-stricken  missionaries. 

First  we  went  to  the  steps  along  the  banks 
of  the  Ganges,  where  we  engaged  a  queer- 
looking  boat  and  were  pushed  out  into  mid 
stream.  The  view  was  great,  and  I  got  some 
fine  snap-shots. 

It  was  a  strange  picture,  teeming  with 
stranger  life.  Multitudes  were  moving  up  and 
down  the  steps,  and  the  brilliant  sunlight  on 
their  gorgeous  garments  and  reflected  from 


48          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

the  gray-white  masonry  made  a  dazzling 
spectacle.  In  the  river  men  and  women 
were  bathing,  or  washing  their  clothes,  or 
scrubbing  their  mouths,  or  drinking,  or  rilling 
prettily-turned  water-pots  with  the  holy  water 
to  carry  to  their  homes — many  of  them  hun 
dreds  of  miles  away  ;  for  pilgrims  come  to 
the  holy  Ganges  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Upon  the  burning  steps  were  several  bodies 
in  the  process  of  cremation,  their  feet  just 
touching  the  water  of  the  river,  into  which 
they  are  cast  when  partly  consumed — sure 
pathway  to  bliss.  The  presence  of  charred 
corpses  and  the  filth  from  constant  clothes- 
washings  doubtless  contribute  the  flavour  so 
highly  prized  by  the  worshipful  Hindu  !  A 
cholera  germ  cannot  live  in  the  water,  and  no 
wonder!  Blessed  thing,  too,  for  the  land 
would  certainly  be  depopulated  should  cholera 
and  bubonic  plague  form  a  combination. 

After  leaving  the  river  we  strolled  past  the 
cesspool  called  the  Well  of  Knowledge,  but 
did  not  drink  thereat ;  then  we  went  to  the 
Golden  Temple,  which  foreign  devils  are  not 
permitted  to  enter,  but  they  may  purchase 
idols  on  the  outside.  All  this  time  we  had 
in  our  wake  a  half-clad  priest  and  a  sepoy, 
the  former  for  the  purpose  of  extracting  coin, 
and  the  latter — presumably — for  protection. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          49 

At  a  monkey  temple  up-town  the  altar  was 
still  dripping  with  the  fresh  blood  of  a  goat 
slain  as  a  sacrifice  that  morning.  We  feared 
for  our  lives  as  we  started  to  leave  the  place, 
for  the  priests  had  thrown  garlands  about  our 
necks,  assuring  us  that  most  Americans  gave 
no  less  than  a  gold  piece  for  such  an  honour. 

In  Lucknow  I  was  impressed  by  the 
pictures  of  all  the  kings  of  Oudh,  which  we 
ran  upon  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  a  hideously 
modern  clock-tower  set  up  in  the  midst  of 
ancient  Hindu  architecture.  They  are  too 
funny  for  anything,  with  their  fierce  mus- 
tachios  and  full  skirts,  which  latter  certainly 
must  have  been  crinolined.  I  feel  like  an 
abridged  edition  of  a  Baedeker's  Guide- 
Book,  but  I  cannot  nauseate  you  with  the 
details  of  all  we  see  as  we  rush  madly  from 
city  to  city,  and  from  temple  to  palace. 
Some  things,  it  seems  to  me,  I  can  never  for 
get,  and  with  these  must  you  be  persecuted. 
Over  all  is  the  dazzling  sun,  and  through  all 
a  cold,  penetrating  wind,  which  is  rather 
more  stimulating  than  our  eternal  balminess 
south  of  Bombay. 

To  me,  the  only  thing  of  real  interest  in 
Lucknow  was  the  old  residency  and  its 
grounds.  The  ruins  are  most  picturesque ; 
only  the  walls  are  standing,  and  they  are 


50          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

overgrown  with  ivy.  All  around  are  beauti 
ful  trees  and  green  grass,  and  every  now  and 
then  you  come  upon  memorial  obelisks  and 
monuments  to  the  brave  who  fell  in  '57.  The 
siege  of  this  place  and  its  brave  defense 
constitute  a  story  that  makes  one's  heart 
ache,  for  there  hundreds  of  English — men, 
women  and  children — took  refuge  from  the 
enemy,  when  disease  wrought  havoc  among 
all,  and  men  were  shot  in  their  beds.  I  could 
have  spent  a  whole  day  in  the  little  cemetery, 
so  sad  and  sweet  and  still,  where  are  laid 
away  the  brave  and  the  fair,  whom  God 
Himself  must  have  respected  when  He  saw 
how  much  they  were  able  to  endure. 

Late  in  the  day  we  drove  through  the 
native  bazaar  behind  a  pair  of  steeds  which, 
to  judge  by  their  skin-and-bone  appearance, 
must  have  been  subsisting  upon  one  straw  a 
day.  The  fact  that  they  finally  registered  a 
protest  by  balking  persistently,  and  that  the 
coachman  belaboured  them  most  cruelly, 
caused  us  to  spring  to  the  ground  and  turn 
our  backs  upon  the  offenders,  only  to  find 
ourselves  in  another  dilemma,  for  there  was 
not  a  soul  near  who  could  speak  or  under 
stand  English,  and  we  do  not  know  the 
language  of  the  north.  Soon  we  were  sur 
rounded  by  a  heathen  crowd,  all  of  them 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          51 

shouting-  directions  and  advice  while  the 
vociferating  coachman  ordered  us  back  to 
the  carriage.  We  were  helpless,  and  were 
beginning  to  feel  considerably  frightened 
when  I  espied  two  Eurasians  approaching  in 
an  ekka.  They  stopped  at  my  frantically 
waved  hand  and  helped  us  out  right  royally, 
giving  us  their  own  chariot,  with  explicit 
directions  to  the  driver. 

An  ekka  is  the  funniest  thing  to  ride  in 
you  ever  saw — two  wheels,  atop  of  which  is 
a  tiny  platform,  on  which  you  perch  a  la 
Turk,  while  you  are  shielded  from  the  sun 
by  a  shade  made  of  gaily-coloured  calico 
trimmed  with  frills.  The  one  little  pony  goes 
at  breakneck  speed  through  the  narrow 
streets,  and  you  have  to  hold  on  for  dear  life 
to  escape  being  hurled  to  the  ground. 

We  spent  New  Year's  Day  here  in  Cawn- 
pore  with  the  most  charming  people — young 
missionaries  just  married.  The  bride  is  one 
of  the  most  exquisitely  beautiful  Americans 
I  have  ever  met. 

I  shall  have  to  hurry  to  finish  this  letter 
before  train  time,  but  fortunately  there  is  not 
much  to  tell  about  Cawnpore  aside  from  the 
mutiny  reminders.  At  the  Memorial  Church 
the  soldier  guard  gave  us  some  of  the  flowers 
from  the  altar,  which  are  placed  there  fresh 


52          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA. 

every  day.  The  church  marks  the  spot 
where  one  thousand  English  were  huddled, 
exposed  to  the  terrible  tropical  sun  and  the 
deadly  fire  of  the  enemy.  When  they  were 
offered  a  safe  passage  to  the  river,  they  left 
all  their  possessions  and  proceeded  to  the 
boats,  but  no  sooner  had  they  embarked  than 
a  murderous  fire  was  opened  upon  them  by 
sepoys  concealed  in  bushes  along  the  banks. 
The  boats  were  then  fired,  and  the  wounded 
were  burned  to  death  or  drowned,  while  the 
rest  were  put  to  the  sword.  After  Nana 
Sahib's  men  were  sated  with  blood,  some  of 
the  women  were  marched  back  to  prison, 
only  to  be  butchered  later  and  cast — dead 
and  dying  together — into  a  well,  over  which 
now  broods  a  marble  angel  whose  face  droops 
slightly  on  one  side  with  tragic  sadness,  and 
smiles  on  the  other  with  the  joy  of  the  resur 
rection.  No  native  is  permitted  within  its 
enclosure  to  this  day,  nor  does  a  horse  ever 
trot  within  the  cemetery  walls.  It  is  the 
saddest  place  I  ever  saw.  It  is  enough  to 
break  an  American  heart — how  can  the 
English  live  here  at  all  ?  The  city  is  a  con 
stant  scene  of  unrest  and  riot,  hatred 
smoulders  in  the  breasts  of  the  natives,  and 
scorn  in  the  hearts  of  the  English. 

We  start  for  Agra  in  exactly  one  half  hour. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          63 

Agra,  Jan.  7,  /p— . 

I  have  seen  the  Taj  !  Oh,  Eleanor,  you 
cannot  even  dream  of  the  wonder  of  it !  It 
looks  like  a  bubble  glowing  under  the  bril 
liant  sun,  whose  fierce  rays  are  reflected  from 
a  thousand  points.  It  shone,  it  throbbed,  it 
seemed  to  float,  and  every  moment  to  threaten 
to  vanish  from  our  sight.  The  effect  is  in 
describable.  I  sat  entranced,  while  my  eyes 
ached  with  the  glare.  But  within  is  a  cool, 
quiet  light,  mellowed  by  passing  through 
marble  screens  which  serve  as  windows  and 
make  the  place  a  charming  retreat. 

The  screen  surrounding  the  cenotaphs  is  a 
marvel  of  the  filmiest,  foamiest  lace  effect, 
with  delicate  borders  of  flowers  inlaid  with 
jade,  topaz,  mother-of-pearl,  lapis  lazuli,  and 
what  not. 

I  had  always  thought  of  the  Taj  Mahal  as 
being  a  tiny  bit  of  perfection,  but  you  have 
only  to  see  it  by  moonlight  to  realize  how 
grand  and  massive  it  is.  The  polished 
marble  surface  reflects  the  soft  light  until 
you  think  there  is  a  halo  there  ;  the  silent 
river  rolls  past  with  its  mirrored  moon  and 
Taj  ;  the  four  corner  towers  reach  up  to  meet 
the  sky ;  the  distant  gateways  with  their 
cupolas,  the  feathered  palms  of  the  garden, 
the  fragrance-laden  air — oh,  Eleanor,  the 


54          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

beauty  of  it  all  is  oppressive  !  Shah  Jehan 
must  certainly  have  loved  his  "  Pride  of  the 
Palace." 

Yesterday  we  met  an  American  globe 
trotter  who  has  been  "  doing  "  India.  We 
asked  him  if  he  had  yet  seen  the  Taj,  and  he 
said,  "  No,  what's  that?"  "  Oh,  a  tomb,"  we 
replied,  and  the  poor  fellow,  surfeited  with 
Indian  tombs,  exclaimed,  "  Uh  !  don't  talk  to 
me  about  tombs!  .1  have  not  seen  any 
thing  else  since  coming  to  India,  and  I  don't 
want  to  see  another  as  long  as  I  live  !  "  And 
he  actually  left  the  city  last  evening  without 
having  seen  the  most  perfect  bit  of  architec 
ture  in  the  world. 

During  our  second  visit  to  the  grounds  we 
heard  another  American  comparing  it  with 
Grant's  tomb,  quite  tipping  the  balance  in 
favour  of  the  latter. 

Dear  old  Dr.  Hunt,  to  whom  I  had  a  letter 
of  introduction  from  the  McFaddens,  has 
shown  us  most  of  the  sights,  and  has  been 
a  perfect  jewel.  Occasionally  a  young  pro 
fessor  from  one  of  the  colleges  has  also  ac 
companied  us,  and  we  feel  semi-civilized  once 
again. 

I  was  beguiled  into  visiting  an  orphanage 
— oh,  dear,  the  poor  waifs !  I  would  rather 
be  a  heathen  any  day  than  be  shut  up  in  one 


A  BLUESTOCKING  INT  INDIA          55 

of  those  cheerless  places.  But  there  was  a 
real  attraction  there  in  the  shape  of  a  wolf- 
child — a  human  foundling  which  had  been 
reared  by  a  mother  wolf  with  her  cubs.  It 
was  discovered  by  a  huntsman  and  brought 
to  this  place  of  refuge,  but  they  have  not 
succeeded  in  teaching  it  much  of  anything — 
in  this  case  environment  has  rather  over 
shadowed  heredity. 

Of  course  we  visited  the  fort,  within  whose 
high  walls  is  a  wilderness  of  magnificent 
carving  in  red  sandstone,  marble,  and  pre 
cious  stones.  The  pearl  mosque  reminded 
us  by  contrast  of  the  hideous  Hindu  temples, 
whose  interiors  are  always  dark  and  for 
bidding,  and  out  of  whose  gloom  peers  some 
vicious-looking  image ;  for  here  all  is  light 
and  airy ;  the  whiteness  suggests  purity ; 
there  are  no  furnishings  excepting  the  three 
marble  steps  which  serve  as  a  sort  of  pulpit 
for  the  leader  of  prayers.  One  side  is  open 
to  the  air,  and  at  the  sunset  hour — the  time 
of  prayer — all  is  beautiful,  still,  and  worship 
ful. 

Near  at  hand  is  Grand  Armoury  Square — 
aptly  called  "  Place  du  Carrousel "  by  keen 
observers.  Here  is  the  hall  of  public  audience 
and  a  carved  throne  upon  which  the  great 
Mogul  used  to  sit  when  administering  justice 


56          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

to  the  poor  dogs  who  prostrated  themselves 
at  his  feet. 

In  the  open  court  of  the  palace  is  a  black 
throne,  opposite  which  the  court  jester  used 
to  sit.  There  is  a  long  fissure  in  the  black 
marble,  which  appeared  when  some  foreigners 
usurped  it,  so  the  natives  say,  and  the  bit  of 
iron  rust  upon  it  is  blood  shed  by  the  stone 
in  its  sorrow  and  shame. 

When  you  see  the  lovely  apartments  of  the 
women,  all  wrought  marble  and  gems,  the 
basins  for  the  fountains,  the  dear  little  ve 
randas  and  retiring-rooms,  you  cannot  help 
thinking  that  the  inmates  of  the  harem  must 
have  had  a  jolly  good  time  after  all.  Still, 
marble  screens  and  jade  would  scarcely  be 
the  price  of  freedom  to  us. 

One  afternoon  we  drove  out  to  Fatepur 
Sikri,  the  ancient  capital  of  Akbar — twenty- 
two  miles  distant.  On  the  way  we  saw  a 
group  of  the  most  beautiful  deer  not  far  from 
the  road,  looking  so  timid  and  proud,  with 
their  heads  high  and  eyes  alert,  that  I  could 
have  hugged  them. 

There  are  many  interesting  things  at 
Fatepur  Sikri,  but  if  you  want  to  know  about 
them,  just  buy  a  guide-book.  In  the  stone 
floor  of  the  court  is  laid  out  a  parcheesi  board, 
on  which  Akbar  used  to  play,  using  slave 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          57 

girls  instead  of  the  wooden  men.  The  house 
which  belonged  to  his  Turkish  wife  is  ex 
quisitely  carved  with  flowers,  birds  and  beasts, 
while  that  which  was  occupied  by  his  Portu 
guese  Christian  wife  has  a  decoration  repre 
senting  the  Annunciation. 

En  route  to  Bombay  from 

Ajmere,  Jan.  12,  ip — . 

Well,  Eleanor  dear,  a  few  scratches  of  the 
pen,  and  you  will  have  been  bored  with  all 
the  history  of  our  little  outing.  At  Delhi 
there  were  more  reminders  of  the  mutiny, 
more  tombs,  more  marble.  The  only  thing  we 
sighed  for  was  the  peacock  throne,  which  is 
no  longer  in  the  hall  of  private  audience  at 
the  palace  within  the  fort,  but  graces  the 
royal  palace  at  Teheran. 

As  at  Agra,  the  women's  apartments  are 
like  fairy-land,  with  their  pure  white  marble 
all  inlaid  with  designs  in  cornelia,  topaz,  and 
pearl.  Delicate  marble  screens  are  there, 
and  cool,  pillared  balconies.  Through  the 
centre  is  a  marble  channel  where  living  water 
used  to  flow,  making  the  mosaics  below 
sparkle  and  gleam.  The  baths,  too,  are 
exquisite,  with  a  reservoir  in  the  middle  of 
each  room  in  which  fountains  were  once  wont 
to  play. 


58          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

When  we  visited  an  old  mosque  in  the 
suburbs,  we  were  stoned  by  some  native 
children  because  we  did  not  tip  liberally 
enough  the  raft  of  urchins  and  the  old  man 
who  waylaid  us. 

We  also  drove  out  twelve  miles  to  the 
Kutub  Minar,  where  is  a  solid,  wrought-iron 
pillar,  erected  in  the  year  319.  Some  of  the 
carving  on  the  ancient  pillars  would  make  an 
archeologist  crazy  with  delight,  but  as  we 
were  tyros  at  that  sort  of  thing,  we  did  not 
get  much  out  of  it.  The  thing  which  fasci 
nated  us  and  froze  our  blood  at  the  same 
time  was  the  sight  of  men  and  boys  hurling 
themselves  into  an  old  well  more  than  eighty 
feet  in  depth.  They  always  struck  the  water 
unharmed  though,  and  I  suppose  they 
must  do  something  to  gather  in  a  few 
pennies. 

As  we  returned  late  in  the  day  we  en 
countered  throngs  of  people  who  were  going 
to,  or  returning  from,  a  great  Mohammedan 
feast.  You  never  saw  such  gorgeous 
costumes  on  men — silken  scarfs,  gold-broid- 
ered  caps,  velvet  jackets ;  and  in  all  sorts  of 
conveyances — carriages,  carts,  ekkas,  dumi- 
nies,  everything.  Everywhere  were  venders 
of  sweetmeats  and  of  "  smokes  " — a  festive 
hooka  being  placed  at  the  disposal  of  any  one 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          59 

who  can  pay  the  price,  for  which  he  gets  one 
long,  hard,  delicious  pull. 

Our  next  point  was  Jaipur,  where  we  had  a 
right  jolly  time.  Although  the  McFaddens 
had  given  us  letters  to  a  pleasant  family — the 
McKenzies — we  put  up  with  two  dear  little 
old  missionaries — or  at  least  one  of  them 
answered  to  this  description,  while  the  other 
was  a  dear  little  young  one.  They  took  us 
everywhere.  Jaipur  is  certainly  an  interest 
ing  city,  with  its  lovely  gardens,  fine  museum, 
and  well-stocked  menagerie.  I  never  saw 
such  tigers  in  my  life.  Great,  splendid 
creatures — one  of  them  just  fresh  from  the 
jungle,  whose  roars  seemed  to  shake  the  very 
foundations  of  the  universe,  and  who  sprang 
for  us  in  a  mad  rage  as  we  approached.  My 
heart  quailed  within  me,  in  spite  of  the  strong 
iron  bars,  and  I  was  glad  enough  to  put  some 
distance  between  myself  and  him.  Think 
of  meeting  such  a  fellow  in  the  jungle ! 

As  we  drove  home  at  night  a  wild  boar 
dashed  across  the  road  just  in  front  of  the 
carriage ;  it  is  like  living  in  the  Arabian 
Nights,  or  like  a  multi-coloured  dream,  is  life 
in  Jaipur.  The  streets  are  wide  and  hard 
and  smooth ;  the  yellow,  green,  blue  and  red 
shops  are  all  two-storied  ;  and  such  a  moving 
panorama  as  those  boulevards  afford  !— car- 


60          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

riages,  splendid  Arabian  horses  with  orient 
ally-draped  riders,  huge  elephants,  camels, 
bullocks,  with  here  and  there  a  cheeta  and 
his  keepers — oh,  I  could  stand  for  hours,  nay 
days,  doing  nothing  but  watching  them. 

The  McKenzies  had  us  all  to  dinner.  They 
live  in  great  luxury,  and  it  does  not  cost 
much  either,  here  in  India,  if  one  prefers 
Persian  rugs,  gold  embroideries,  brass  and 
wood  carvings,  ebony  and  sandal-wood 
treasures,  and  all  that  to  the  modern  conve 
niences  of  the  West. 

Our  host,  who  enjoys  the  favour  of  the 
Maharajah,  obtained  one  of  the  royal  ele 
phants  for  us  to  ride  out  to  the  ancient  capi 
tal  the  next  day.  We  mounted  our  huge 
steed,  Rampiere,  in  great  glee.  He  knelt  at 
the  command  of  the  mahout,  but  even  then 
we  had  to  ascend  a  ladder  to  reach  the 
howdah.  One  of  the  ladies  kept  us  in  con 
vulsions  of  laughter  with  her  mixture  of 
Scotch  and  American,  calling  our  immense 
beast  "  Wee  Wifie,"  and  crying  out  with  en 
thusiasm  every  now  and  then,  "  Ain't  he 
cute  ! "  I  wanted  to  seize  the  mahout  every 
time  he  jabbed  that  cruel-looking  iron  in 
strument  into  Rampiere's  neck,  but  his  back 
looked  so  non-committal  as  he  sat  there  just 
behind  the  flapping  ears  that  I  refrained. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          61 

There  is  nothing  like  an  elephant's  back 
for  point  of  view  !  In  the  near  distance  on 
one  side  were  the  trees,  domes  and  minarets 
of  Jaipur,  while  new  views  constantly  opened 
before  us,  until  we  had  passed  through  a 
mountain  gorge  and  had  come  upon  a  tiny 
lake  of  wondrous  beauty  nestling  amid  the 
fortified  hills.  The  royal  palace  was,  of 
course,  deserted,  except  for  a  few  attendants. 
It  did  not  differ  perceptibly  from  other 
palaces,  but  here  we  found  a  valued  collec 
tion  of  Hindu  art,  to  describe  which  no 
words  of  mine  are  adequate.  If  you  can  re 
member  the  days  of  your  childhood,  when 
you  depicted  upon  your  slate  soldiers  with 
jointless  legs  and  arms,  and  fair  ladies  in 
crinolines,  and  babes  with  moon  faces,  you 
have  it.  I  could  with  difficulty  maintain  the 
gravity  necessary  to  express  my  proper  ap 
preciation  to  the  guide,  who  revered  the 
things  as  you  would  one  of  Raphael's  mas 
terpieces. 

In  many  respects  the  Maharajah  of  Jaipur 
is  quite  up  to  date.  He  it  was  who  planned 
the  modern  city,  with  its  wide  boulevards  and 
public  gardens.  He  supports  a  fine  brass 
band,  which  plays  very  well. 

We  could  scarcely  tear  ourselves  away 
from  Jaipur,  but  telegrams  from  Karad  in- 


62          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

formed  us  that  some  of  our  confreres  were 
suddenly  ordered  home  on  sick  leave,  as  a 
consequence  of  which  every  one's  work  was 
doubled  up,  and  so  we  hastened  our  foot 
steps  towards  the  sunny  south,  spending  only 
one  day  at  Ajmere,  a  pretty  little  place  sur 
rounded  by  low  mountains.  A  beautiful  lake 
is  cuddled  by  the  hills,  and  on  its  banks  are 
lovely  pure  marble  pavilions.  Here  is  a  col 
lege  for  native  princes  built  entirely  of  white 
marble,  where  the  scions  of  ancient  dynasties 
are  taught  to  play  tennis  and  cricket,  great 
care  being  taken  that  they  do  not  incidentally 
learn  anything  of  statesmanship  or  the 
science  of  government. 

Karad,  March  /,  /p — . 
My  dear  Eleanor  : 

"  I  do  now  take  my  pen  in  hand  to 
say  that  I  am  well  and  hope  this  will  find  you 
the  same,"  but  how  long  it  will  remain  in  hand 
is  not  known  to  gods  or  men,  for  you  never 
saw  anything  like  the  amount  of  work  we 
have  to  compass  in  twenty-four  hours,  and  as 
for  sleep,  that  is  a  luxury  which  I,  for  one, 
am  beginning  to  eschew  almost  entirely. 
Furloughs  and  sick  missionaries  are  contin 
gencies  which  must  ever  be  reckoned  with, 
and  what  with  the  additional  work  thereby 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          63 

entailed,  and  the  constant  temptation  to  step 
into  new  openings  at  the  proper  psycholog 
ical  moment,  it  is  simply  more  than  human 
shoulders  and  hearts  can  carry.  Fortunately 
the  missionary  enterprise  was  not  instigated 
nor  intended  to  be  carried  on  by  human 
agencies  to  the  exclusion  of  the  divine,  so  we 
always  manage  some  way  or  other  to  "get 
our  second  breath "  and  stick  to  the  race 
until  the  end.  The  physical  end  is  surely 
hastened,  however,  but  it  is  better  to  wear 
out  than  to  rust  out,  and  there  is  no  danger 
of  our  rusting  in  this  work. 

With  all  the  rest,  I  have  had  the  temerity 
to  organize  a  Y.  W.  C.  A.  among  the  nurses. 
The  girls  needed  something,  for  their  lives 
were  absolutely  monotonous.  They  have 
none  of  the  feast  and  gala  days  of  the 
heathen,  and  have  had  to  derive  their  rec 
reation  from  church  and  prayer-meetings, 
with  never  any  fun.  I  could  not  exist  that 
way.  I  only  wish  I  had  the  cash  to  build  a 
gymnasium  for  them,  with  a  dance-hall  and 
play-room  and  everything  to  do  with. 

Well,  you  could  never  imagine  what  a 
difference  it  has  made  in  them.  We  appor 
tioned  the  work  among  the  sisters — one  of 
them  is  teaching  the  girls  music,  another 
English,  another  Bible ;  I  give  them  physical 


64          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

culture,  and  Miss  Pentup  things  which  per 
tain  to  nursing.  Once  a  week  we  have  a 
little  heart-to-heart  meeting,  and  every  now 
and  then  a  tea  or  something  of  that  sort. 
The  poor  things  need  especially  to  be  con 
soled  for  their  spinsterhood,  for  you  know 
single  blessedness  after  the  age  of  twelve  or 
fourteen  is  considered  a  curse  out  here.  We 
cannot  have  mixed  parties  because  the  cus 
tom  of  the  land  does  not  sanction  it,  and  if 
we  attempted  it  the  boys  would  range  them 
selves  fiercely  and  superiorly  on  one  side  of  the 
room,  while  the  girls  would  blush  and  titter 
opposite,  with  no  hope  of  an  ultimate  thaw. 

But  they  do  their  physical  culture  right 
well,  being  naturally  graceful,  and  it  does  my 
heart  good  to  hear  their  shrieks  of  laughter 
at  attempted  feats — I  never  knew  they  could 
laugh  before.  Sour  faces  have  become 
happy  and  bright ;  slow  and  spiritless  obedi 
ence  quick  and  cheerful ;  and  irresponsi 
bility  has  been  replaced  by  a  desire  to  be 
trusted. 

And  so  I  have  my  girls  to  love  and  my 
boys  to  train.  The  other  day  in  Sunday- 
school  the  moral  question  arose  as  to  which 
son  did  right,  he  who  promised  to  obey  his 
father  and  did  not  perform,  or  he  who  refused 
to  obey  and  later  repented.  They  all  insisted 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          65 

that  the  first,  because  he  was  polite  and 
showed  respect  unto  his  father,  did  right. 
Thus  do  they  regard  form  and  not  sub' 
stance. 

You  would  be  amused  to  see  me  conduct 
ing  women's  meetings  in  the  wards,  teaching 
Sunday-school  classes,  and  telling  the  chil 
dren  stories,  all  in  my  broken  Marathi,  which 
they  seem  to  consider  very  funny,  but  they 
are  usually  too  polite  to  betray  their  amuse 
ment  until  my  back  is  turned. 

Yesterday  1  had  an  experience  which  made 
me  feel  pretty  small,  I  can  tell  you.  It  was 
one  of  my  first  cataract  cases ;  the  woman 
was  absolutely  blind,  had  not  seen  a  thing 
for  years  when  she  came  to  me.  I  did  the 
operation  on  both  eyes  at  one  sitting,  band 
aged  them,  and  sent  her  to  the  ward.  When 
the  day  came  for  the  removal  of  the  bandages, 
I  found  her  in  the  woman's  general  ward, 
which  was  full  to  overflowing  with  patients. 
She  was  eager  for  her  release,  so  I  told  the 
nurse  to  loosen  the  dressings  and  then  ap 
plied  the  counting  test.  All  those  women 
were  still  as  mice,  holding  their  breath  to 
learn  if  her  sight  was  really  restored.  You 
could  have  heard  a  pin  drop.  Holding  up 
my  fingers  before  the  long  sightless  eyes  I 
asked  her  to  count,  and  she  did  so :  "  One, 


66          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

three,  two,  four."  The  women  whispered 
from  cot  to  cot,  "  She  sees  1  she  sees  1 "  while 
the  poor  patient  herself  fell  at  my  feet  in  a 
transport  of  joy  and  gratitude,  and  embraced 
them,  kissing  the  hem  of  my  skirt,  and  call 
ing  me  all  the  endearing  names  which  her 
vocabulary  afforded.  She  would  have  wor 
shipped  me  then  and  there,  so  deep  was  her 
feeling,  but  I  lifted  her  up  and  led  her  away 
to  tell  her  of  One  who  alone  is  worthy  of 
worship,  and  whose  greatest  desire  is  for  her 
happiness  and  good. 

Yes,  I  used  to  say  I  was  not  coming  to 
India  to  preach,  but  to  practice  medicine ; 
but  when  an  event  like  this  drives  you  down 
into  the  depths  of  the  most  abject  humility — 
remembering  what  a  mean,  selfish,  despicable 
creature  you  are — you  just  cannot  help  tell 
ing  the  poor  ignorant  women  that  after  all 
there  is  something  which  is  worthy  of  love 
and  worship,  that  there  is  One  who  is  abso 
lutely  pure,  and  holy,  and  merciful,  and  who 
loves  every  last  one  of  them  with  a  perfect 
love.  Every  body  has  a  soul,  and  I  am  be 
ginning  to  find  out  that  my  chief  concern  is 
not,  after  all,  with  the  body. 

These  things  are  happening  constantly. 
Nothing  seems  to  stir  their  pulses  like  a 
brilliant  coup  in  the  surgical  line,  and  it  is 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA         67 

remarkable  how  they  spread  the  news  of  such 
by  word  of  mouth  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth.  One  woman  comes  every  week 
to  garland  and  bouquet  the  lot  of  us.  It  is 
pleasant  to  know  that  our  efforts  are  not  un 
appreciated — with  the  taste  of  gratitude  on 
our  tongues  we  can  give  our  bodies  to  be 
burned  with  good  grace. 

I  am  becoming  thinner  and  thinner.  They 
say  that  in  India  one  always  goes  to  one  ex 
treme  or  the  other — I  think  I  must  have  chosen 
the  other.  Some  of  the  brethren — or  sisters, 
as  the  case  may  be,  are  so  fat  they  can  scarcely 
waddle,  while  all  the  rest  are  so  thin  as  to  be 
translucent.  Of  course  it  is  not  so  bad  when 
a  conjugal  pair  balance  things  by  combining 
opposite  extremes,  which  is  usually  the  case, 
and  right  comical  do  they  appear. 

Last  evening  we  had  a  sand-storm — I 
never  saw  such  a  gale  ;  the  atmosphere  was 
opaque — in  my  room  I  could  cut  it  with  a 
knife — and  to-day  everything  is  gritty  to  the 
touch. 

Outside,  so  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  is  a  dry, 
sandy  stretch,  but  the  trees  will  soon  put 
forth  their  new  shoots,  furnishing  another  il 
lustration  of  the  reversed  order  of  things  in 
India.  Why  do  they  not  wait  until  the  be 
ginning  of  the  rainy  season  ? 


68          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Karady  March  //,  /p — . 
My  dearest  Eleanor  : 

"  The  shades  of  night  are  falling  fast, 
Upidee,  upida,"  and  right  glad  I  am  to  wel 
come  them  after  the  brassy  sky  and  furnace 
heat  of  the  day.  I  am  snatching  a  few  min 
utes  to  write  before  taking  a  plunge  into 
study  preparatory  to  to-morrow's  lecture. 
This  time  it  is  physiology.  The  other  day 
one  of  the  sisters  who  was  a  school-teacher  at 
home  remarked  that  it  was  nothing  to  lecture 
on  physiology — she  used  to  teach  it  in  Pitts- 
burg.  Think  of  it !  Comparing  grammar- 
school  smatter  with  the  real  medical  univer 
sity  thing — for  we  use  the  same  books  here 
that  they  do  in  the  medical  colleges  at  home. 
Why,  for  to-day's  lecture  I  had  to  prepare  a 
whole  section  on  anatomy,  look  up  a  few 
pages  of  materia  medica,  remember  all  my 
college  physics,  explaining  pneumatics  and 
hydrostatics,  give  the  theories  for  osmosis, 
and  the  chemical  formulae  for  haemoglobin, 
leucin  and  tyrosin,  explain  the  psychological 
principles  involved  in  the  execution  of  sundry 
bodily  functions,  go  minutely  into  the  nervous 
system,  and  finally  sum  up  the  function  under 
consideration,  and  then  cap  it  all  by  the  forc 
ing  process  of  compelling  those  boys  to  see 
the  points !  It  is  all  in  English,  you  know, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          69 

and  they  are  naturally  a  little  slow  at  taking 
it  in.  These  are  the  days  when  I  spend  what 
few  spare  minutes  I  can  get  regretting  the 
time  wasted  while  taking  my  medical  course. 
A  few  less  theatres  and  late  suppers — in  fact, 
a  general  cutting  out  of  larky  times — might 
have  contributed  to  turning  out  a  "  dig  "  who 
understood  some  of  the  underlying  principles 
of  things.  As  it  is,  I  have  to  study  until  I 
am  black  in  the  face  in  order  to  understand 
the  subjects  well  enough  to  demonstrate  them 
clearly  to  the  class. 

This  morning  I  had  an  experience  in  dis 
pensary  which  at  first  amused,  then  disgusted, 
and  lastly  almost  nauseated  me.  A  patient 
came  for  treatment,  tall  and  mannish  look 
ing,  but  wearing  women's  clothes.  I  was 
suspicious  of  the  case,  but  as  it  was  one  re 
quiring  surgical  treatment  of  the  shoulder, 
sent  it  to  the  hospital,  where  it  was  readily 
discovered  to  be  a  man.  I  had  never  heard 
that  it  is  a  common  thing  in  this  country  for 
men  to  take  some  sort  of  vow,  don  female  at 
tire,  and  thereafter  haunt  the  temple  of  some 
goddess  which  is  frequented  by  women. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  opposite  sex,  for  not 
long  since  a  woman  in  men's  clothing — the 
devotee  of  a  god — came  to  the  men's  dispen 
sary  for  treatment.  The  things  which  are 


70         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

practiced  out  here  in  the  name  of  religion 
make  one  heart-sick  and  faint 

To-day  is  the  last  day  of  the  Feast  of  the 
Holi,  a  religious  festival  lasting  the  greater 
part  of  a  week.  At  this  time  all  caste  regula 
tions  are  set  aside,  the  ordinary  restraints  of 
Hindu  society  are  removed,  and  the  whole 
population  gives  itself  up  to  the  realization  of 
the  vilest  imaginations.  One  day  is  given 
over  to  swearing  and  all  sorts  of  profanity, 
the  reviling  of  neighbours  and  friends,  and 
insolence  of  the  most  disgusting  type  ;  an 
other  to  lying,  another  to  throwing  mud, 
another  to  throwing  red  ink,  when  the  whole 
community  looks  as  if  dipped  in  blood. 
The  grand  climax  comes  on  the  last  night, 
which  is  now,  and  as  I  write  I  am  glad  to 
have  the  shelter  of  four  walls,  the  assurance 
of  protection,  a  moral  heredity,  and  an  en 
lightened  conscience  ;  for  above  the  stillness 
of  the  night  come  the  sounds  of  heathen 
revelry,  and  as  I  glance  out  the  window  I 
can  see  the  dull  glow  of  flames  against  the 
darkness,  and  I  know  that  out  there,  in  front  of 
a  not  distant  temple,  women  are  dancing  and 
circling  around  a  huge  fire,  and  that  prepara 
tions  are  being  made  for  the  debauchery  of 
the  night. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  they  have  no  moral 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          71 

stamina,  no  strength  of  character,  no  idea  of 
right  and  wrong  ?  And  yet  here  is  a  civiliza 
tion  centuries  old,  and  a  system  of  philosophy 
and  religion  plausible  in  appearance.  Oh, 
India,  India !  how  my  heart  bleeds  for  thee ! 

A  few  days  ago  the  Mohammedans  also 
celebrated  a  feast  in  commemoration  of  the 
offering  up  of  Isaac  by  Abraham,  and  be 
cause  a  sheep  was  sacrificed  instead,  they 
bought  up  all  the  mutton  and  we  had  to  go 
without.  It  is  a  great  land  1 

I  had  not  intended  taking  any  hot  season 
vacation  this  year,  but  it  is  so  difficult  to 
find  time  for  language  study  that  I  am  going 
to  go  to  the  hills  for  a  short  time,  secure  a 
good  pundit,  and  put  in  some  eight  to  ten 
hours  a  day  on  grammar  and  translation.  I 
shall  then  take  my  last  examination,  and  if  I 
pass  shall  say  good-bye  to  pundits  for  a 
time.  It  has  meant  hard  work  and  applica 
tion  to  get  it  off  in  six  months,  but  I  have 
had  no  alternative — I  am  possessed  with  a 
perfect  frenzy  to  get  all  merely  preparatory 
things  out  of  the  way,  so  as  to  give  my 
whole  self — soul  and  body — to  work  for 
these  people.  I  long  to  rend  the  veil  be 
tween  us,  to  come  to  an  understanding  of 
them,  to  see  their  point  of  view  ;  but  every 
one  says  it  is  impossible,  that  between  them 


72          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

and  us  a  great  gulf  is  fixed  ;  we  cannot  cross 
to  them  nor  they  to  us,  even  after  they  have 
become  Christianized.  It  may  be  so,  but  I 
doubt  it.  At  any  rate,  I  shall  not  leave  any 
method  untried  to  bring  myself  en  rapport 
with  some  one  of  them  at  least,  and  if  one  is 
understood,  that  will  be  a  sure  gateway  to 
the  rest.  It  is  not  strange — they  are  per 
fectly  antipodal  to  us.  Their  different 
heredity,  history,  mental  processes,  moral 
nature,  climate,  training,  religion,  their 
fatalism,  mysticism,  laziness,  lack  of  in 
itiative,  their  abstractions,  philosophizings, 
their  physique — in  fact,  in  no  particular  can 
a  point  of  contact  be  found.  But  I  believe 
that  in  a  common  religion — that  is,  in  Chris 
tianity — a  point  of  contact  may  be  found. 

Mhableshwar,  May  2j,  19 — . 
If  you  have  ever  dreamed  a  dream  of  old 
flesh-potty  Egypt!  The  sun  is  darkened, 
the  atmosphere  is  red,  every  green  herb  has 
disappeared,  and  from  all  points  of  the  com 
pass  your  ear  is  greeted  with  the  sound  of 
the  locust  in  the  land  !  Trees  which  I  sup 
pose  to  be  covered  with  a  peculiar  red  moss 
prove,  upon  approach,  to  be  packed — like 
sardines — with  locusts.  The  lovely  walks 
and  drives  which  last  year  were  through 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          73 

bowers  of  wild-roses  and  greenery,  lead  this 
year  only  through  barren  wastes.  The  other 
day  while  out  for  a  long  walk  I  ran  into  a 
bunch  of  them  migrating,  and  I  had  simply 
to  beat  and  fight  my  way  along  for  a  distance 
of  two  miles.  They  would  strike  against  me 
in  myriads,  into  my  face  and  blinding  my 
eyes — how  many  more  plagues,  oh,  Lord, 
must  this  wretched  land  suffer  ? 

The  strawberries  for  which  this  hill-station 
is  particularly  famous,  and  the  green  vege 
tables,  are  only  preserved  by  constant  vigi 
lance  on  the  part  of  the  natives. 

Life  still  has  its  compensations,  however, 
and  I  have  many  a  delightful  walk  "  over 
the  hills  and  far  away."  This  morning  I  fol 
lowed  a  path  leading  through  a  shady  glen 
and  along  a  torrent  bed,  which  is  a  raging 
river  during  the  rainy  season,  to  a  tiny  fall, 
the  music  of  whose  voice  recalled  that  dear 
little  old  Brown's  Creek  where  we  used  to 
wade  and  play,  and  from  whose  moss-grown 
logs  and  velvety  banks  we  used  to  pluck 
wild  violets  and  trilliums. 

These  remote  nooks  are  always  vibrant 
with  life,  lizards  sunning  themselves  on  the 
stones,  squirrels  scurrying  to  the  shelter  of 
the  trees.  The  sweet  notes  of  the  Indian 
thrush  break  the  stillness,  while  the  constantly- 


74          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

recurring  theme  of  the  bulbul,  and  the  re 
sponsive  quaver  of  an  unknown  bird  create  a 
perfect  antiphony  of  the  woods. 

As  I  sat  on  a  jutting  shelf  half-way  down 
the  gorge,  the  clouds  crept  up  from  the 
valley  below,  first  in  tiny  fragments  like 
scraps  of  fairy  draperies,  then  suddenly  I 
was  completely  closed  in  with  the  mist,  and 
felt  as  if  I  were  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the 
world.  The  stillness  was  intense,  broken 
only  by  the  sad  sough  of  the  wind  in  the 
trees,  and  I  began  to  be  genuinely  frightened, 
when  it  all  lifted,  giving  me  such  a  view  of 
the  sun  taking  a  nap  in  a  bed  of  nice,  fleecy 
cloud,  and  distant  range  upon  range  of 
mountain,  with  a  poor  little  forlorn  monkey 
whimpering  upon  a  neighbouring  slope. 

A  week  or  so  ago  we  had  a  larky  little  ex 
pedition  to  Pratapgarh,  which  is  an  im 
portant  feature  in  the  landscape  and  also  an 
important  historical  land-mark,  for  here  the 
Marathi  Empire  had  its  birth  in  the  year 
1656.  At  that  time  the  Mogul  power  had 
embraced  pretty  much  all  of  India,  but 
among  the  brave  Marathas  rebellions  were 
frequent,  outlawry  was  common,  and  plots 
were  constantly  on  hand  for  the  overthrow 
of  the  hated  infidel  rule.  Shivaji,  a  bandit, 
had  kept  the  country  in  a  turmoil  for  years, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          75 

yet  by  his  subtle  ways  and  choice  lying  had 
succeeded  in  escaping  the  clutches  of  the 
ruling  powers  and  had  even  persuaded  them 
of  his  loyalty.  It  was  finally  learned,  how 
ever,  that  he  was  collecting  a  large  force  in 
the  mountains,  and  Afzul  Khan,  a  Moham 
medan  general,  was  sent  out  against  him. 
As  he  approached,  Shivaji  retired  farther  and 
farther  into  the  mountain  fastnesses,  the 
people  seemed  non-resistant,  and  the  Khan's 
progress  resembled  nothing  so  much  as  a 
triumphal  procession.  He  finally  penetrated 
to  the  narrow  valley  beneath  Pratapgarh. 
The  time  was  ripe.  Shivaji  sent  a  message 
savouring  of  surrender,  and  asking  that  the 
two  commanders  should  meet  half-way  be 
tween  the  camps,  unarmed,  and  with  only 
one  attendant,  to  arrange  terms  of  surrender. 
Afzul  consented,  and  clad  in  white,  weapon 
less,  and  with  only  a  weak  old  courtier  as  at 
tendant,  approached  the  place  of  rendezvous. 
But  the  treacherous  Shivaji  wore  a  coat  of 
mail  beneath  his  snow-white  robe,  and  car 
ried  in  his  false  hand  a  weapon  known  as  the 
tiger-claw — a  series  of  sharp  hooks  strapped 
to  his  fingers,  with  which  he  tore  out  the 
vitals  of  Afzul  Khan  as  he  went  to  embrace 
him.  Then  it  appeared  that  the  bushes, 
trees,  rocks,  were  all  alive  with  the  concealed 


76          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Marathas,  who  rushed  upon  the  enemy  and 
slew  them  without  any  quarter.  It  is  said 
that  even  the  women  poured  boiling  water 
from  the  walls  of  the  fort  as  the  Mohammed 
ans  recklessly  attempted  to  scale  them. 

Our  people  simply  worship  Shivaji.  He 
is  their  highest  type  of  valour,  courage,  man 
hood,  and  yet  he  was  a  robber,  a  liar,  a  mur 
derer  and  a  traitor.  With  such  ideals,  what 
can  one  expect  their  own  characters  to  be  ? 

The  drive  in  the  early  morning,  down  into 
the  valley  from  Mhableshwar,  was  a  perfect 
delight.  At  the  foot  of  Pratapgarh  is  a  cozy 
little  traveller's  bungalow,  where  we  lunched 
and  lounged  until  the  sun  began  to  sink  in 
the  west,  and  then  began  our  arduous  climb. 

The  scenery  is  magnificent — a  fertile 
valley  curving  close  to  the  bases  of  the 
eternal  hills,  cultivated  to  the  last  degree, 
while  jagged  and  seamed  old  mountains  rear 
their  bulk  to  the  azure  sky. 

There  is  but  one  approach — such  a  per 
pendicular  hill  I  never  saw — and  the  top  is 
one  continuous  overhanging  bastion,  with 
openings  for  cannon,  and  with  here  and 
there  watch-towers  and  lookouts. 

Within  the  fort  there  is  nothing  much — the 
usual  temple  containing  some  old  idol,  and  a 
perennial  candle-light,  a  tower  or  two,  some 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          77 

native  huts,  and  a  few  natives  intent  upon 
graft  alone. 

The  view  from  the  bastion  would  have 
held  me  for  hours,  but  we  had  to  tear  our 
selves  away.  We  flew  down  the  mountain 
side  by  the  light  of  the  moon,  had  our  dinner 
at  the  bungalow,  and  drove  home  in  the 
mystic  stillness,  creeping  along  the  beetling 
rocks  and  winding  around  the  jagged  pro 
jections. 

Karad,  July  4,  19 — . 

And  this  is  the  glorious  Fourth  !  I  suppose 
you  are  lying  low  within  doors  while  all  the 
small  boys  make  the  hours  hideous  with 
their  explosions  and  so-called  patriotism. 
Do  you  remember  how  in  pinafore  days  we 
used  to  peep  in  at  the  bowery  dances  and 
watch  in  glee  the  gyrations  of  our  country 
cousins  ?  And  then  our  imitations  ! — which 
brought  down  upon  our  innocent  heads  the 
reproaches  of  outraged  relatives !  Ah,  so 
long  ago !  And  no  more  to  be  found  even 
in  our  quiet  little  town,  which  in  those  days 
depended  upon  the  Fourth  for  its  annual  ex 
citement. 

We  have  attempted  to  celebrate  the  day. 
At  the  station  dinner  this  evening  we  were 
as  stylish  and  witty  as  possible,  and  told 


78          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

all    our   stale  jokes,  laughing   uproariously 
thereat. 

But  there  is  no  use  trying  to  be  gay  in  this 
letter.  We  seek  to  put  on  a  smile,  and  for 
get  for  a  brief  space  our  gruesome  surround 
ings,  but  it  is  a  thing  that  cannot  be  done. 
This  country  and  these  people  have  become 
a  part  of  our  lives,  and  everything  that  affects 
them  affects  us.  Just  now  the  vulture's 
wings  are  darkening  the  heavens,  and  they 
are  even  worse  than  a  brassy  sky.  This 
morning  twenty-three  corpses  were  found  on 
the  road  in  front  of  the  compound,  having 
died  there  during  the  night.  And  the  reason 
is  this  :  a  great  pilgrimage  has  been  in  proc 
ess — the  annual  fair  at  Pandrapur,  a  very 
holy  city  some  little  distance  from  here,  sit 
uated  upon  a  very  holy  river.  The  papers 
have  it  that  between  three  and  four  hundred 
thousand  people  attended  this  year,  some 
going  by  rail  in  the  cars  fitted  up  like  cattle- 
pens,  in  which  the  rate  is  less  than  third-class 
fare,  some  in  bullock-carts  and  some  on  foot. 
Hundreds  who  travelled  in  carts  and  on  foot 
passed  our  bungalow,  bearing  banners, 
tomtoming  on  their  drums,  with  constant 
shouts  of  victory.  To  them  it  was  a  journey 
of  salvation,  and  they  were  filled  with  a  great 
hope  and  faith  in  the  benefits  to  be  derived 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          79 

from  it.  Arrived  at  Pandrapur,  they  would 
crowd  in  between  the  temple  walls  and  strug 
gle  to  reach  the  inner  precincts,  where  they 
could  fall  at  the  feet  of  a  stone  god  and  kiss 
the  impression  in  the  stone  floor  made  by 
the  priests,  pay  their  money,  and,  if  they 
could  escape  the  throngs  without  being 
crushed  to  death,  go  to  the  holy  river,  have 
a  bath,  wash  their  clothes,  and  take  a  good 
drink.  Of  course  there  are  no  sanitary  reg 
ulations  there,  and  it  is  a  perfect  breeding- 
place  for  cholera  and  kindred  diseases. 

For  the  last  few  days  they  have  been  re 
turning,  but  oh,  to  what  a  different  tune ! 
The  vultures  and  crows  provide  the  dirge, 
and  form  the  advance  and  rear  guard  of  the 
endless  funeral  march.  Sometimes  there  will 
be  a  cart  whose  driver  sits  up  to  his  task, 
guiding  his  bullocks  with  his  stick  and  hurry 
ing  them  by  a  twist  of  the  tail,  while  behind 
him  are  lying  one  or  two  corpses,  and  one  or 
two  sick  and  dying.  Now  and  then  a  cart 
passes  whose  driver  has  succumbed,  and  the 
bullocks  follow  along  the  road  according  to 
their  own  sweet  will. 

This  evening  Miss  Pentup  and  I  went  for 
our  usual  walk  towards  the  river.  By  the 
roadside  we  came  upon  a  woman,  seemingly 
in  the  last  stages  of  cholera.  We  approached, 


80          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

hoping  to  be  of  assistance  in  some  way,  but 
she  still  had  life  enough  to  motion  us  away — 
she  would  not  be  defiled  in  her  last  moments 
by  any  contact  with  such  as  we.  She  was 
dying  in  a  holy  cause,  and  gloried  in  it ! 
We  were  helpless  before  her  caste  and  re 
ligion,  and  turned  away,  sick  at  heart.  She 
was  completely  covered  with  ants,  which  had 
already  begun  the  awful  work  to  be  finished 
a  little  later  by  the  vultures. 

We  walked  on  to  the  river,  and  found  a 
cremation  in  progress,  the  victim  having 
been  a  Brahmin,  and  hence  worthy  of  some 
attention.  He  was  nicely  packed  in  the 
middle  of  a  square  pile  of  wood,  kerosene 
had  been  poured  on,  and  the  whole  lighted, 
while  two  Brahmins  marched  around  the 
pyre,  reciting  mystic  formulae  in  Sanskrit. 
They  continued  until  the  skull  burst,  then 
took  a  ceremonial  bath  in  a  neighbouring 
well  and  went  home.  Held  by  the  weird  fas 
cination  of  it  all,  and  unmindful  of  the  gath 
ering  darkness  and  the  approaching  dinner 
hour,  we  watched  the  blazing  heap  until  it 
died  down  into  a  mass  of  glowing  coals. 

Some  of  the  pilgrims  have  applied  at  the 
hospital  for  entrance,  but  we  cannot  take 
them  in  and  expose  our  patients  and  the 
whole  plant  to  this  dread  disease.  We  can 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          81 

only  advise  them  to  go  to  the  government 
segregation  hospital,  which  they  will  scarcely 
ever  consent  to  do.  To  such  as  have  gone, 
we  send  milk  and  medicine  by  the  good 
Christian  boy  who  scrubs  the  operating-room, 
and  he  goes  gladly,  with  never  a  thought  of 
his  own  danger. 

Not  long  since  another  variety  of  celebra 
tion  took  place — a  two  days'  feast  called  the 
Nag  Punch-me,  when  you  see  rice  and  sugar 
at  all  the  snake-holes,  and  cobra  images  at 
all  the  shrines.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  the  wor 
ship,  the  cobra  persists  in  using  his  fangs — 
we  keep  anti-cobra  serum  in  the  hospital  all 
the  time. 

Does  it  not  make  you  sick  at  heart  ?  And 
to  feel  so  helpless  against  it  all,  yet  with  a 
terrible  conviction  that  there  must  be  no 
giving  up,  that  we  must  fight  on  to  the  bitter 
end! 

Karad,  Sept.,  19 — . 

I  am  sure,  my  dear  Eleanor,  you  must  at 
times  become  extremely  weary  of  my  pro 
fessional  shop-talk,  but  when  one's  career  is 
made  up  of  the  worst  tragedies  of  life,  it  is 
rather  difficult  to  talk  around  the  edge.  Of 
course  I  cannot,  in  the  very  nature  of  the 
case,  tell  you  many  of  the  particulars  of  this 


82         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

absorbing  work  out  here,  nor  can  I  mention 
many  of  the  individual  patients  in  whom  I 
have  become  particularly  interested.  We 
spend  from  two  to  five  hours  in  the  operating- 
room  every  day,  going  through  the  usual 
routine  of  cutting,  sawing,  sewing,  bandag 
ing,  and  all  the  rest.  Since  passing  my  last 
language  examination  in  June,  I  have  not 
done  a  word  of  studying,  having  been  com 
pelled  to  give  all  my  time  to  the  actual  doing 
of  things.  I  really  need  ear  practice  more 
than  anything  else,  and  I  am  getting  plenty 
of  it,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  all  the  class- 
work  is  in  English,  as  well  as  all  the  pre 
scriptions  and  directions  to  the  nurses.  I 
have  not  given  up  my  ambition  to  tackle 
Sanskrit,  however,  and  shall  begin  it  during 
my  next  hot  season  vacation.  It  is  taught 
in  all  the  schools  here  much  more  commonly 
than  is  Latin  at  home,  and  it  will  be  perfectly 
easy  to  secure  a  good  pundit.  You  know 
it  is  essential  to  one's  sanity  to  ride  a  hobby 
in  this  forsaken  country,  and  I  have  about 
decided  that  mine  will  be  languages. 

I  have  had  my  heart  torn  to  shreds  in  the 
last  two  months  over  a  case  which  came  to 
my  dispensary  one  morning:  a  poor,  little, 
wizened,  old-looking  face,  with  a  timid, 
shrinking  soul  peeping  out  through  fright- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          83 

ened  eyes  upon  a  cruel  world,  atop  a  tiny, 
immature,  mutilated  body  of  ten  years.  The 
wicked  woman  who  brought  her  seemed 
eager  to  be  rid  of  her,  and  offered  no  objec 
tions  to  my  suggestion  that  she  remain  in  the 
hospital  for  treatment.  The  poor  little  thing 
was  loathsome  to  touch,  and  equally  so  to 
the  olfactory  organ.  After  cleaning  her  up, 
we  found  that  she  could  not  be  operated 
upon  without  some  weeks  of  preparatory 
treatment  and  feeding  up.  So  we  put  her 
on  a  course  of  baths,  medication,  three  meals 
a  day,  and  attendance  at  the  school  for  out 
cast  children,  which  is  held  back  of  the 
compound.  She  comes  from  a  good  caste, 
which  may  account  for  the  brightness  she 
displayed  as  her  fear  and  sickness  gradually 
wore  away,  and  the  avidity  with  which  she 
devoured  every  bit  of  learning  that  came  her 
way.  Nearly  every  morning  I  would  see 
her  poring  over  her  lessons  on  the  back 
steps  of  the  hospital,  and  strangely  enough, 
the  thing  she  studies  most  keenly  is  the 
little  Testament  that  I  gave  her  when  she 
began  to  learn  to  read.  Her  young  mind 
is  bent  upon  finding  out  for  itself  what  it  is 
that  has  made  us  her  friends,  willing  to  take 
her  in  and  ready  to  love  her  without  money 
and  without  price. 


84          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

After  a  few  weeks  her  face  began  to  look 
round  and  young,  and  outside  of  school 
hours  she  would  help  Miss  Pentup  in  various 
ways  about  the  hospital.  Then  one  day  an 
awful  crash  came,  in  the  person  of  her 
mother-in-law,  who,  with  the  most  dreadful 
menace,  ordered  her  to  accompany  her  home. 
Soondri  came  running  to  me  in  terror, 
hid  herself  in  my  skirts,  crying  bitterly,  and 
begging  me  to  save  her.  What  the  wee 
child  must  have  suffered  in  days  past  we 
learned  from  what  the  old  hag  said,  as  she 
gave  out,  in  a  voice  shaking  with  rage, 
threats  of  beatings  and  hair-draggings  and 
other  half-killing  tortures.  I  listened  dumb 
founded  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  my 
own  wrath  moved  that  woman  out  of  the 
door  and  off  the  compound,  with  a  power 
which  she  could  not  resist.  After  a  few  days 
the  husband — a  great  brute  of  a  man,  some 
thirty  years  of  age,  with  the  face  of  an  animal 
— came  and  demanded  his  wife.  Soondri 
cowered  in  a  dark  corner,  trembling  with  fear, 
and  afraid  to  come  out  even  after  Miss  Pentup 
had  disposed  of  the  man.  She  had  finally  to 
lock  her  up  in  the  linen-room  in  order  to  assure 
the  child  that  her  lord  and  master  could  not 
take  her  away.  Indeed,  the  man  came  again 
and  again,  the  last  time  with  a  native  pleader, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          85 

and  then  Dr.  White,  to  stop  further  perse 
cutions,  threatened  him  with  arrest  and  prose 
cution  if  he  dared  to  set  foot  upon  the  com 
pound  again.  It  happened  that  he  was  liable 
to  prosecution,  having  taken  his  wife  unto 
himself  when  she  was  only  nine  years  old, 
the  British  law  fixing  the  age  at  twelve  years. 

Well,  the  man  was  arrested,  and  upon  the 
day  of  the  trial  Dr.  White  took  Soondri  and 
went  to  court.  When  the  judges  asked  the 
child  by  which  of  her  household  gods  she 
would  take  the  oath,  she  lifted  her  head 
proudly  and  said  that  she  would  swear  by  the 
Christians'  God  1  Was  not  that  a  brave 
thing  to  do  ? 

The  hearing  brought  out  the  most  dread 
ful  things — too  horrible  to  put  into  words,  or 
even  to  think  of — that  she  had  suffered.  I 
wonder  that  she  lived  through  it  all !  Dr. 
White  said  that  the  whole  sympathy  of  the 
court,  however,  was  with  the  husband — they 
cannot  understand  that  a  woman  has  any 
rights  or  any  soul,  or  that  a  man  should  not 
work  his  will  with  his  own,  even  to  exercis 
ing  the  power  of  life  and  death.  But  because 
the  case  was  brought  by  a  white  man,  and 
also  because  the  judge  was  a  rather  liberal- 
minded,  philosophical  Brahmin — head  and 
shoulders  above  most  of  his  ilk — the  prisoner 


86         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

received  the  full  extent  of  the  law,  and  was 
sent  to  prison  for  a  year. 

Since  that  time  we  have  enjoyed  some 
sense  of  security,  and  Soondri  waxes  happier 
and  happier  every  day,  confident  in  our  om 
nipotence. 

I  have  had  to  give  up  wearing  my  flower- 
garden  leghorn  hat  to  church,  for  the  natives 
simply  cannot  become  accustomed  to  it ;  they 
give  their  undivided  attention  to  it  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  sermon,  and  derive  no  end  of 
amusement  from  it. 

The  other  evening  Mrs.  White  had  the 
students  in  to  dinner,  and  such  a  time  as  we 
had  !  These  functions  are  supposed  to  be  a 
part  of  the  educational  process,  but  I,  for  one, 
despair  of  ever  tacking  any  occidental  man 
ners  upon  their  oriental  customs.  Polite  ? 
Oh,  yes,  their  politeness  is  A  Number  i,  but 
when  it  comes  to  managing  soup  with  a 
spoon,  without  audible  gustatory  apprecia 
tion,  and  to  cutting  with  a  knife,  and  convey 
ing  with  a  fork,  it  is  too  much !  It  was 
laughable  and  pitiful,  all  at  the  same  time ; 
the  more  so,  as  they  had  a  prospect  of  leav 
ing  the  table  ravenously  hungry,  for  they 
could  only  play  at  eating  with  those  fiendish 
instruments.  A  propos  of  which  our  first 
assistant,  a  native,  of  course,  says  that  the 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          87 

reason  we  are  such  skillful  surgeons  is 
because  we  handle  the  knife  so  well  at 
table ! 

When  the  rice  and  curry  course  came  on, 
we  thought  it  time  for  the  tables  to  turn,  and 
so  we  all  fell  to  with  our  fingers.  The  boys 
filled  up  with  speed,  being  adepts  at  the  use 
of  these  implements,  while  we  were  most 
awkward,  and  did  not  surround  much  rice,  I 
assure  you. 

The  evening  was  devoted  to  native  and 
English  music  on  native  instruments  and  the 
baby  organ,  and  after  a  most  strenuous  two 
hours  we  crawled  into  bed,  exhausted  with 
the  stress  of  social  life. 

Paradise  Lodge, 
Mhableshwar,  Oct.  30,  19 — . 
Beloved  Eleanor  : 

Ah,  but  I  was  glad  to  receive  your  let 
ter  !  You  do  not  write  very  encouragingly 
of  sister,  but  I  am  sure  she  will  pull  through 
all  right — I  never  saw  a  girl  with  such  a  con 
stitution  as  hers !  Of  course  I  know  she 
works  entirely  beyond  her  strength  at  her 
music,  but  she  has  such  a  passion  for  it ;  it 
would  be  like  cutting  off  her  life  to  take  it 
away  from  her.  How  proud  I  am  to  have 
such  a  genius  for  a  sister !  I  hope  she  will 


88          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

not  be  ashamed  of  her  old  bluestocking  when 
I  come  home. 

Annual  conference  is  sitting  on  the  hills 
this  year  instead  of  in  the  valleys,  for  there 
is  so  much  plague  in  our  state,  and  the  re 
strictions  upon  travel  and  the  quarantine  are 
such  that  it  seemed  best  to  flee  to  the  moun 
tains,  where  we  could  incidentally  tone  our 
selves  up  with  a  little  oxygen. 

You  never  saw  anything  like  the  beauty  of 
the  hills  just  now  at  the  close  of  the  rains. 
The  red  earth  of  the  roads  winds  like  a  bril 
liant-coloured  ribbon  among  the  forests  and 
compounds,  the  latter  a  mass  of  flowering 
beds  and  greenery.  As  for  the  woods,  they 
are  a  perfect  dream  !  A  green  veil  of  fine 
moss  shrouds  the  banks  and  braes,  wild 
sweet  peas,  roses,  bluebells,  and  heliotrope 
bloom  everywhere.  The  forests  are  full  of 
the  stately  white  flower  of  the  arrowroot, 
and  as  twilight  falls,  the  deadly  nightshade 
spreads  its  white  cup  to  the  moon.  Trailing 
vines  creep  up  the  tree  trunks,  and  sweet- 
voiced  birds  trill  from  their  branches. 

From  our  back  veranda  we  can  see  away 
out  and  across  Blue  Valley,  always  filled  with 
a  mysterious  misty  haze  that  always  draws 
me  with  a  wonderful  fascination.  At  hot 
season  time  I  have  often  wandered  down 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          89 

there  to  the  point  where  all  the  blue  mist  dis 
appears,  and  the  dazzling  sunlight  brings  out 
into  bold  relief  every  boulder  and  shoulder 
and  crevice,  sparkling  on  the  silver  cascades  ; 
but  I  have  never  seen  it  in  all  the  luxuriant 
growth  and  bloom  of  the  rainy  season,  so  I 
determined  to  steal  away  down  there  some 
sunny  afternoon. 

The  day  came.  I  cut  mission  meeting, 
donned  my  walking  skirt,  took  a  stout  alpen 
stock  in  my  hand,  and  sallied  forth.  At  first 
you  follow  a  woodland  path  leading  down 
hill  all  the  way  ;  then  you  travel  on  the  high 
road  for  a  half  mile  or  so,  and  then  plunge 
again  into  the  forest.  I  was  in  great  glee, 
for  I  love  to  walk  alone,  when  I  can  think  my 
own  thoughts  and  dream  my  own  dreams. 
I  did  not  meet  a  soul  until  reaching  the  road, 
when  two  horsemen  cantered  by  upon  the 
most  splendid  steeds — they  were  all  in  shining 
leather  and  correct  habit,  so  I  knew  they  must 
be  attaches  of  the  government  or  officers  of 
the  army.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  incorpo 
rating  them  into  my  dream,  but  they  were 
soon  lost  sight  of  in  the  strange  new  beauties 
of  Nature  which  met  me  at  every  turn. 

By  following  a  path  which  skirted  the  brow 
of  a  steep  hill  I  came  to  an  old  temple  in  the 
wilderness,  far  from  the  haunts  of  men,  but 


90          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

with  faded  flowers  decorating  its  altar,  and 
stiff  little  bouquets  before  the  shrines.  The 
stone  gods  looked  at  me  severely  as  I  invaded 
their  sanctuary,  so  I  did  not  linger  long,  but 
pressed  on  towards  the  brink  of  my  beckoning 
valley.  Once  there  was  a  great  commotion 
in  the  tree-tops,  and  I  saw  scores  of  migrating 
gray  monkeys,  leaping  from  branch  to  branch, 
and  emitting  their  peculiar  cries.  The  path 
wound  and  doubled  upon  itself  until  it  led  me 
out  upon  a  high  ridge  of  the  valley  for  a 
new  and  wonderful  view.  All  was  still :  the 
music  of  falling  cascades  was  far  below, 
where  spraying  water  gleamed.  The  sun 
glinted  over  a  high  peak,  not  a  breath  of  air 
stirred,  occasionally  a  huge  bird  swept  across 
the  sky,  and  here  and  there  a  drifting  cloud 
made  a  slowly-moving  shadow  upon  the 
quiet  slopes. 

I  sat  down  to  drink  it  all  in ;  how  long,  I 
do  not  know,  but  I  must  have  forgotten  time 
and  space  and  everything  else,  for  the  first 
thing  I  knew  the  sun  had  set,  leaving  a  crim 
son  glow  behind,  and  the  mountains  were 
already  glooming  at  the  approach  of  night. 
I  sprang  to  my  feet  and  fled  for  all  I  was 
worth  over  the  winding  path,  not  allured  this 
time  by  the  darksome  shadows  of  the  forest, 
whose  retreats,  I  knew,  sheltered  the  deadly 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          91 

cobra,  the  bear  and  the -tiger.  I  should  have 
kept  to  the  road  after  leaving  the  first  forest, 
but  thought  to  save  time  by  following  the 
shorter  path,  and  flew  confidently  on,  noting 
how  the  arrowroot  flower  gleamed  out  of  the 
thicket,  and  how  the  stars  shone  with  unusual 
lustre.  But  suddenly  I  found  myself  in  a 
maze  of  paths  worn  by  animals  through  the 
jungle.  I  followed  one,  but  soon  discovered 
that  it  was  leading  down  into  a  valley  instead 
of  to  the  heights,  and  at  a  sudden  turn  the 
sound  of  falling  water  smote  upon  my  ears. 
I  stopped  in  dismay ;  for  no  stream  should 
be  tumbling  its  waters  at  that  stage  of  my 
supposed  progress.  I  concluded  to  retrace 
my  steps  and  go  home  by  the  long  way.  By 
this  time  the  night  was  black — I  could  see 
only  a  few  feet  ahead  of  me.  Everything 
became  confused — a  network  of  paths  leading 
nowhere — I  knew  I  was  lost ! 

There  was  but  one  thing  to  do — to  take  my 
direction  from  the  stars,  and  keep  it  regard 
less  of  paths.  With  my  eyes  fixed  upon 
Jupiter  I  plunged  into  the  jungle.  By  day 
light  I  could  never  have  been  persuaded  to 
attempt  such  a  thing,  but  I  could  not  see 
what  was  before  me  nor  realize  the  dangers 
which  menaced  me.  I  did  not  recognize 
hedges  of  interlaced  thorns  until  I  had  fallen 


92          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

into  them,  and  then  I  extricated  myself  only 
with  great  patience  and  care  and  delay.  I 
knew  not  the  lay  of  the  ground  until  I  had 
stumbled  over  stones  or  slid  down  abrupt 
declivities. 

I  was  torn  and  lorn,  and  after  falling  and 
reeling  and  climbing,  with  scratches  and 
bruises  galore,  I  came  to  a  clearing,  over 
whose  stony  ground  I  scrambled  in  a  mad 
search  for  a  road,  but  there  was  none — just 
an  interminable  wall  of  jungle ;  and  I  sat 
down,  weary  and  ready  to  cry,  when  suddenly 
my  ear  caught  the  sound  of  horses'  hoofs 
from  afar.  I  held  my  breath — nearer  and 
nearer  they  came  ;  there  must  be  a  road  just 
beyond  the  jungle  fringe !  As  they  came 
opposite  me  I  gave  a  cry — be  my  rescuer 
robber,  bandit,  or  what,  I  would  be  saved 
from  the  unknown  dangers  of  the  woods ! 
Then  the  hoof-beats  became  slower,  and, 
happy  fortune,  an  English  voice  replied. 

He  was  tall  and  decidedly  English,  but  very 
kind.  He  suggested  that  I  mount  his  horse 
as  I  must  be  very  tired,  but  I  refused  when 
he  assured  me  that  Paradise  Lodge  was  less 
than  a  mile  away,  being  too  excited  to  real 
ize  how  weary  I  was.  So  he  hung  his  bridle 
over  his  arm,  and  we  walked  together  under 
the  friendly  stars.  I  found  myself  dreading 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          93 

the  revelation  of  myself  beneath  our  veranda 
light,  for  my  hair  was  all  but  falling  down, 
my  clothes  were  torn,  my  face  and  hands 
were  scratched  and  bleeding.  As  it  was,  his 
cold  blue  eyes  looked  amused  as  he  beheld 
my  plight,  but  he  took  himself  off  in  a  manner 
as  faultless  as  was  the  style  of  his  very  correct 
riding  appointments.  I  was  sure  he  was  one 
of  the  knights  I  had  passed  upon  the  road 
earlier  in  the  day,  for  his  bearing  was  military. 
Well,  the  family  were  not  even  worried ! 
They  thought  I  had  gone  to  a  neighbouring 
bungalow,  and  would  be  along  presently 
with  one  of  the  servants  to  carry  a  lantern. 

Karad,  Nov.,  19 — . 
My  dearest  Eleanor  : 

A  pretty  kettle  of  fish  I  have  been  in 
since  writing  you  last !  If  variety  of  a  cer 
tain  kind  makes  life  spicy  in  the  foreign  field, 
mine  must  be  an  enviable  lot !  In  the  first 
place,  a  few  days  after  coming  down  from 
mission  meeting,  we  had  a  snake  episode, 
the  mere  thought  of  which  even  yet  makes 
my  blood  run  cold.  We  were  at  tiffin  when 
suddenly  Mira,  the  house-servant,  appeared 
with  blanched  face  and  frightened  eyes, 
whispering  that  there  was  a  large  cobra  in 
my  room.  Whether  he  had  come  in  by  way 


94          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

of  the  bath  room  water-escape,  which  is 
merely  an  opening  in  the  floor  to  carry  off 
the  bath-water,  or  had  established  himself 
during  our  absence  at  the  hills,  and  had  just 
decided  to  make  his  presence  known,  I  did 
not  stop  to  conjecture,  but  I  did  take  time  to 
shudder  at  the  thought  that  very  likely  I  had 
been  sharing  my  room  with  the  reptile  for  a 
day  or  two.  Dr.  White  armed  himself  with 
a  stout  cane,  and  in  spite  of  his  protests  I 
did  the  same,  and  followed  him  into  the 
room.  Unknown  to  us,  Mira  had  provided 
himself  with  a  good-sized  stone,  and  creeping 
up  behind  me,  hurled  it  with  all  his  might  at 
the  cobra,  just  grazing  its  head.  Imme 
diately  filled  with  fury,  it  spread  that  dreadful 
hood,  and  rising  on  its  tail,  started  for  us 
with  fangs  extended.  Mira  had  crouched  be 
hind  my  skirts,  the  missile  had  been  sped 
from  my  direction,  and  so  straight  at  me  it 
came.  I  cannot  tell  you  the  horror  of  that 
instant,  but  it  was  accompanied  by  an  al 
most  supernatural  calm,  and  I  instinctively 
clutched  my  stick  with  the  purpose  of  fight 
ing  for  my  life;  but  just  at  the  critical  mo 
ment,  Dr.  White  raised  his  cane,  and  brought 
it  down  with  a  quick,  sharp  blow  upon  the 
back  of  the  cobra's  neck,  and  it  fell,  the  neck 
broken.  I  was  terribly  unnerved !  Mrs. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA         95 

White  said  I  was  perfectly  ghastly  all  the 
rest  of  the  day,  and  that  night  was  indeed  a 
nightmare  of  snakes  and  struggles  and  fights. 

Do  you  remember  how  we  used  to  run 
screaming  at  the  mere  sight  of  a  little  garter 
snake  ?  I  have  never  recovered  from  my 
fear  of  their  kind,  and  have  been,  up  to  this 
time,  peculiarly  fortunate  in  not  coming  into 
contact  with  any,  always  closing  my  eyes 
and  thoughts  to  possibilities,  on  the  principle, 
I  suppose,  that  you  always  find  what  you 
look  for  in  this  world.  To  illustrate  the 
truth  of  which  principle  I  must  tell  you  that 
Miss  Grant,  of  Madhole,  is  always  hunting 
snakes,  and  invariably  finds  them — some 
times  coiled  up  under  the  bed,  or  in  her 
shoe,  or  in  the  lee  of  the  bath  tub. 

Only  two  days  after  the  snake  episode  one 
of  the  nurses — a  new  girl  whom  we  had 
recently  taken  on — decided  to  avenge  herself 
upon  some  one  by  committing  suicide.  It 
was  an  awful  tragedy.  She  swallowed  a 
bottle  of  strychnia  solution,  and  her  convul 
sions  were  terrible.  We  worked  over  her 
like  mad  until  she  breathed  her  last,  hoping 
against  hope  that  we  might  save  her  after  all. 

It  is  customary  among  this  people  to  at 
tempt  suicide  upon  the  slightest  provocation 
— without  any  intention  of  dying  completely, 


96          A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

but  as  a  sort  of  ruse  to  excite  sympathy,  or 
to  perpetrate  revenge,  as  they  call  it — the 
poor  deluded  things — as  if  it  made  such  a 
tremendous  difference  to  any  one  else  after 
all !  In  this  case  the  dose  was  accidentally 
too  large  to  leave  the  victim  any  possibility 
of  enjoying  either  her  revenge  or  the  sym 
pathy  which  she  may  have  succeeded  in 
arousing. 

The  funeral  was  the  saddest  thing  you  can 
imagine.  Wrapped  closely  in  a  white  sheet, 
she  was  conveyed  in  a  wooden  box  on  an 
ox-cart  to  the  cemetery,  with  a  few  of  us 
straggling  behind — no  flowers,  no  beauty,  no 
sweetness,  but  only  stern,  grim  reality.  It 
was  twilight  when  we  laid  her  away  in  the 
little  enclosed  lot  upon  the  dry,  cheerless 
plain,  not  a  green  thing  in  sight,  not  a  blos 
som.  She  was  removed  from  the  rough  box 
— which  could  thus  be  utilized  for  some  other 
corpse — and  lowered  into  her  earthen  bed, 
with  only  the  sheet  to  protect  the  body. 

Oh,  Eleanor,  Eleanor  !  What  did  I  ever 
know  of  life  in  free,  happy  America,  where 
our  very  griefs  are  dressed  up  to  please  the 
public  eye,  and  all  the  scars  and  seams  are 
concealed  beneath  smiles  and  honeyed 
words  ?  There  is  no  disguising  reality  out 
here  in  this  desert  place,  where  no  water  is, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          97 

and  no  fresh  herb  or  blade  of  green  grass  is 
seen  for  eight  months  in  the  year.  How 
could  mankind  be  anything  but  perverted  in 
such  a  place,  amid  such  surroundings  ? 

It  is  likely  to  drive  you  either  to  the  devil 
or  back  to  God,  and  I  should  certainly  go 
mad  with  it  all  if  it  were  not  for  the  constant 
assurance  I  have  within  myself  that  God  is 
right  here  to  help,  that  the  warfare,  after  all, 
is  His.  There  is  a  still  small  voice  out  here 
that  I  never  heard  in  happy  American  days, 
and  it  is  the  only  thing  that  makes  life  worth 
living. 

Within  another  three  days  Dr.  White  came 
down  with  typhoid  fever,  and  the  work  has 
been  piling  up  until  I  do  not  pretend  to  see 
over  it — no  time  to  worry  or  to  be  sad,  but 
just  work,  work,  work,  day  in,  day  out,  and 
far  into  the  night. 

The  weather  seems  to  be  in  league  with  all 
the  rest  of  the  evil  spirts,  for  the  heat  is  ex 
hausting,  and  sickening,  too,  for  it  goes  right 
to  the  solar  plexus.  The  sun  looks  down 
pitilessly,  the  sky  is  brassy  and  cruel ;  crows 
"caw-caw"  ceaselessly  around  the  bunga 
low,  hoarse  cries  from  unmusical  tropical 
birds  issue  forth  from  the  dry  trees, — the 
weird  shriek,  like  a  death  call,  from  one  of 
them  fairly  sets  the  teeth  on  edge — while  the 


98         A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA. 

endless  beat,  beat,  of  the  fiend  which  must 
surely  be  the  brain-fever  bird  keeps  up  across 
the  way.  Nearer  at  hand  is  the  constant 
rustle-rustle  of  white  ants  under  the  mat 
ting — there  is  no  telling  how  soon  they  will 
have  consumed  me  and  all  my  posses 
sions. 

Karad,  Christmas  Day,  19 — . 
My  beloved  Eleanor: 

Oh,  these  tears !  these  tears  I  They 
blind  me  so  that  I  can  scarcely  write,  but  in 
spite  of  them  I  must  tell  you  how  much  your 
sympathy  means  to  me,  what  a  comfort  your 
letter  was.  I  never  dreamed  for  one  moment 
that  this  could  come — sister  had  always  been 
so  well,  and  bright,  and  happy ;  and  on  this 
Christmas,  all  the  day  long,  thoughts  of  other 
Christmases  have  been  trooping  through  my 
mind,  when  sister  and  I  were  together,  care 
free  and  gay.  The  news  of  her  suffering  for 
the  last  few  weeks  had  made  me  wild,  but  I 
did  not  dream  that  death  could  come.  And 
she  so  young,  so  gifted  !  And  now  she  is 
gone.  Oh,  the  pity  of  it ! 

To  think  that  I  am  ten  thousand  miles 
away — and  the  music  of  her  laughter  no 
longer  rings  through  the  old  house,  her 
springing  footstep  is  no  longer  heard  in  the 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA          99 

corridors.  No  longer  does  she  linger  over 
the  old  piano  as  twilight  falls,  her  fingers 
lovingly  drawing  out  the  soft  cadences 
prompted  by  the  hour. 

Oh,  it  is  too  sad  !  But  I  can  only  be  glad 
that  the  suffering  is  ended,  that  now  she  is 
happy,  with  a  glorified  body  which  feels  no 
pain,  that  she  understands  and  knows  all 
those  things  which  are  mysteries  to  us. 

These  are  the  days  when  we  learn  to  pray, 
when  our  hearts  are  overwhelmed.  And  I 
still  pray  for  her,  forgetting  that  it  can  no 
longer  help  her,  and  yet,  some  way,  I  can 
not  help  breathing  that,  now  she  is  with  God, 
He  will  keep  her  close  and  very  joyful,  that 
the  present  may  make  up  for  all  she 
missed  in  the  past,  and  many,  many  times 
more. 

Such  a  rare  musician  she  was.  But  no 
earthly  music  can  satisfy  her,  for  she  always 
had  that  of  heaven  in  her  ears.  How  she 
must  love  it ! 

I  try  to  think  of  the  place  where  she  is 
laid,  and  make  it  all  to  suit  my  fancy,  with 
grateful  shade  and  abundant  flowers ;  for 
drifting  snow  and  winds  moaning  through 
the  tree-tops  are  unthinkable  beneath  this 
burning  sun.  I  hope  it  is  where  the  sound 
of  the  waves  breaking  on  the  shore  can  be 


100        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

heard,  and  where  the  leaves  whisper  together 
in  the  summer  breezes. 

How  we  learn  the  lessons  of  sorrow  and 
loss  as  life  goes  on,  and  how  little  we  are 
able  to  bear  it  by  ourselves  alone.  I  look 
out  across  the  veranda  into  the  open ;  the 
full  moon  makes  the  arid  landscape  a  silver 
sea,  and  I  wonder  if  ever  a  flood  of  light  and 
love  will  be  able  to  change  my  life  like 
that. 

But  there  is  no  time  for  weeping — unless 
in  the  wee  hours  of  the  night.  The  work 
crowds  out  the  sadness  of  the  days;  it  is 
rush,  rush,  from  morning  to  night  and  then 
often  through  half  the  night. 

As  soon  as  Dr.  White  had  recovered  suffi 
ciently  to  travel,  I  packed  him,  with  his 
family,  off  on  furlough,  which  was  nearly  due, 
with  the  expectation  that  the  sea  voyage 
would  restore  him  to  complete  health  and 
vigour.  They  will  return  next  December, 
and  in  the  meantime  expect  anything  or 
nothing  in  the  way  of  news  from  me.  For 
tunately,  the  students  are  just  now  having 
Christmas  holidays,  which  gives  me  a  chance 
to  catch  my  breath.  With  only  native  as 
sistants  it  will  be  a  hard  pull,  but  I  have  a 
good  helper  in  Ramaji,  who  is  as  faithful  as 
the  day. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        101 

Karad,  Feb.,  /p — . 
Dear  Eleanor : 

I  am  wound  up  to  such  a  pace  that  I 
feel  as  if  I  could  never  stop,  or  if  I  did  it 
would  be  "short,  never  to  go  again,"  like 
grandfather's  clock.  It  would  not  be  quite 
so  maddening  if  extras  could  only  be  dis 
pensed  with,  but  of  course  one  can  scarcely 
expect  that  in  a  medical  career  anywhere. 
The  daily  routine  continues  unaltered,  but 
the  minutes  between,  which  you  plan  to  give 
to  a  much-needed  snooze,  or  to  reading,  or 
a  bit  of  music,  or  exercise,  you  have  to  use 
in  rushing  instead  off  to  a  case  in  town,  or 
in  flying  to  the  hospital  in  an  emergency,  or 
in  breaking  your  neck  bending  over  a 
microscope  to  settle  a  questionable  diagno 
sis — these  incidentals  are  the  last  straws 
which  break  the  camel's  back. 

Last  week  Thursday  I  received  a  telegram 
from  the  Merwins  whom  Dr.  White  had  sent 
to  the  hills  some  time  ago.  Mrs.  Merwin, 
overcome  with  the  long  strain  and  anxiety 
of  caring  for  her  sick  husband,  had  com 
pletely  collapsed,  so  I  planned  to  take  the 
first  train  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
You  can  imagine  that  I  did  a  land-office 
business  in  the  intervening  hours.  To  get 
off  all  the  necessary  correspondence,  to  finish 


102        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

up  the  surgery,  to  leave  specific  directions 
for  every  patient,  to  complete  all  necessary 
laboratory  work,  to  reiterate  directions  for  the 
evangelistic  services,  to  bring  records  up  to 
date,  and  leave  everything  shipshape,  meant 
steam-engine  processes  to  say  the  least. 
When  train  time  came  I  was  as  unready  as 
possible,  and  could  only  throw  a  few  books 
and  necessities  into  my  suit-case,  slip  my 
warm  winter  suit  on  over  my  muslin  frock, 
seize  my  medicine  bag  and  run.  By  gallop 
ing  all  the  way  our  poor  little  bony  horses 
made  the  train,  and  I  settled  down  for  the 
night.  Long  before  we  reached  my  station, 
at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  I  was  quiet  and 
full  of  plans.  I  try  to  control  circumstances 
and  my  work,  and  not  let  them  control  me, 
but  when  there  is  so  much  to  be  done  one 
can  scarcely  avoid  a  spirit  of  haste.  I  see 
my  finish  though,  if  I  do  not  calm  down  a 
little  and  secure  more  sleep.  I  wonder  how 
long  one  could  keep  the  pace  and  sanity 
with  insomnia?  From  Watar  I  had  to  drive 
forty  miles  in  the  mail-tonga,  a  perfect  con 
trivance  for  human  torture.  Every  few 
minutes  the  driver  would  wind  a  blast  on 
his  bugle  like  the  knell  of  the  Angel  Gabriel 
awakening  the  dead.  As  we  ascended,  the 
mercury  dropped  lower  and  lower,  and  from 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        103 

a  hot  summer  day  of  twenty  hours  before,  I 
found  myself,  upon  arrival,  blue  and  shiver 
ing  with  the  cold.  All  that  day  and  night 
and  the  following  day  I  worked  with  my 
patients,  and  then,  having  heard  of  the 
arrival  of  a  government  civil  surgeon,  I  sent 
for  him,  placed  the  cases  in  his  hands,  and 
started  for  Karad  in  the  late  afternoon,  just 
as  the  sun  sank  behind  the  purple  mountains, 
lighting  up  the  rim  of  sea  forty  miles  distant 
with  a  crimson  glow  like  wine. 

I  had  hired  a  private  tonga  to  bring  me 
down,  and  we  flew  along  the  descending 
road  as  if  possessed  of  wings. 

Half-way  down  the  mountains  is  a  Con 
gregational  mission  where  is  located  a 
Wellesley  girl  I  know  ;  there  I  stopped  for 
dinner,  and  a  right  jolly  time  we  had.  At 
nine  I  called  up  my  coach  and  started  under 
a  full  moon  for  the  midnight  train.  The 
driver  and  runner  whispered  together  a  good 
deal  as  we  got  under  way,  but  I  thought 
nothing  of  it  until  the  former  started  out 
upon  a  certain  and  very  suggestive  tack, 
saying  he  could  not  possibly  make  the  train 
and  asking  what  I  would  do  in  such  an 
emergency.  I  assured  him  that  it  would 
really  make  very  little  difference  to  me,  as  I 
should  love  to  return  to  my  friends  whom 


104        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

we  had  just  left  and  spend  Sunday  there, 
suggesting,  however,  that  he  whip  up  his 
horses  a  little.  After  a  while  he  revealed 
his  plan  by  inquiring  how  much  money  I 
would  put  up  if  he  arrived  on  time.  In 
reply  I  intimated  that  the  horses  had  better 
hustle.  Meanwhile  the  glances  he  gave  me 
were  intended  to  congeal  my  blood  with  fear, 
and  they  nearly  succeeded. 

After  a  time  a  different  subject  was  intro 
duced,  and  my  blessed  driver  told  me  tales 
of  the  carnage  and  theft  that  had  been  per 
petrated  on  that  road,  saying  that  soon  the 
robbers  would  appear,  seize  him,  and  do 
what  they  pleased  with  me  and  the  tonga. 
This  was  one  too  much.  Reaching  for  my 
medicine  grip  I  deliberately  drew  forth  my 
five-shooter,  and  letting  the  moonlight  glitter 
murderously  along  the  silver  barrel,  I  aimed 
it  at  an  imaginary  thief  and  told  the  driver 
never  to  fear,  I  would  protect  him.  I  would 
shoot  dead  on  the  spot  any  one  who  dared 
to  molest  us.  At  that  moment  a  weary 
pedestrian  appeared  in  sight,  and  taking 
aim,  I  asked  if  he  were  a  thief  and  if  I  should 
fire.  The  man  at  the  lines  cried  out  in 
trepidation  and  besought  me  not  to  kill,  as 
the  creature  was  but  an  inoffensive  farmer. 

At  every  wayfaring  man  I  flourished  the 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        105 

gun — they,  of  course,  being  quite  unconscious 
of  their  imminent  danger — but  the  effect 
upon  Monsieur  the  driver  was  quite  magical. 
He  assured  me  that  he  feared  nothing  with 
me  and  my  weapon  so  near,  and  besought 
me  to  put  it  back  into  the  bag,  which  I  de 
clined  to  do, 

He  was  scared  to  death,  the  atmosphere 
cleared,  the  horses  fairly  flew,  and  we  arrived 
in  good  time. 

How  was  that  for  a  bluff  ?  I  shall  never 
cease  to  bless  that  little  revolver ! 

I  reached  Karad  in  the  early  morning, 
snatched  a  little  sleep,  and  have  been  work 
ing  like  a  Trojan  ever  since. 

There  has  been  little  time  to  think,  or  to 
dream,  or  to  be  sad,  but  sometimes  my  "  finite 
heart  yearns  "  so  in  the  stillness  of  the  night 
that  it  seems  to  me  I  must  give  it  all  up  and 
fly  home  to  you  all,  or  die.  It  is  a  strange 
life  which  leads  to  the  separation  of  loved 
ones  by  distance  and  death.  But  we  are 
learning  its  stranger  lessons — or  at  least  I 
am — line  upon  line :  how  real  it  is,  how 
earnest,  what  its  goal  is. 

Karad>  March  25,  /<? — . 
All  that  is  necessary  for  a  Turkish  bath  to 
day  is  to  linger  for  a  few  moments  on  the  burn- 


106        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

ing  ground  under  this  burning  sun.  The  ther 
mometer,  however,  registers  only  ninety-eight 
degrees  in  the  shade,  and  that  is  frosty  weather 
compared  with  one  hundred  and  twenty. 

It  was  good  of  you  to  send  the  fashion- 
book.  I  am  wondering  if  you  were  instigated 
thereto  by  the  little  snap-shot  I  sent  you,  and 
if  my  style  is  so  very  terrible.  I  continue  to 
dream  that  the  clothes  I  brought  out  with  me 
are  in  the  height  of  fashion — sad  will  be  my 
awakening  when  the  day  arrives  for  me  to 
enter  once  more  the  bounds  of  civilization  ! 
How  absurd  the  style-plates  appear.  The 
charmingly  graceful  sari  which  the  women 
of  this  country  wear,  and  which  never  changes 
from  generation  to  generation,  has  so  fasci 
nated  me  that  I  only  regret  the  impossibility 
of  adopting  it  as  my  own  costume. 

The  students  have  just  finished  their 
examinations — you  would  be  amused  at  their 
English,  but  it  is  difficult  to  give  'you  ex 
amples  which  are  not  of  professional  flavor. 
How  is  this — "  First  act  of  metabolism  is  to 
take  in,  as  food."  "  The  function  of  the 
cerebellum  is  the  coordination  of  the  muscles' 
staggering  gait." 

They  have  done  remarkably  well,  consider 
ing  their  lack  of  English  in  the  beginning, 
and  the  difficult  nature  of  the  medical  vocab- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        107 

ulary.  I  am  so  proud  of  them,  that  I  am 
ready  to  burst,  and  they  also  are  quite  puffed 
out  with  appreciation  of  themselves.  After 
it  was  all  over  they  celebrated  the  occasion 
by  giving  a  play.  They  are  natural  actors, 
completely  free  from  self-consciousness,  and 
yet  with  a  fine  eye  for  effect,  and  they  enjoy 
nothing  better  than  entertaining  an  audience 
far  into  the  night. 

The  next  morning  I  took  their  pictures, 
and  they  all  "  looked  pleasant "  in  the  most 
accommodating  manner.  Their  combination 
of  the  oriental  and  occidental  is  most  pleas 
ing;  they  never  see  me  without  jerking  off 
their  hats — they  would  as  soon  think  of  sit 
ting  in  the  presence  of  the  queen  as  of  me — 
they  spring  to  serve  me  at  the  slightest  prov 
ocation.  Yet  this  in  a  land  whose  customs 
demand  the  removal  of  the  shoes  as  a  token 
of  respect,  and  make  woman  the  natural 
servant  and  burden-bearer  of  man. 

The  same  day  I  took  a  picture  of  the 
nurses  sitting  in  a  row,  with  parted  hair  and 
folded  hands.  The  dear,  timid,  self-effacing 
girls — how  they,  too,  have  grown. 

March  26th. 

Ye  gods  and  little  fishes !  My  servant 
has  turned  out  to  be  a  well-developed  leper 


108        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

and  not  a  soul  has  known  it.  And  he  has 
been  on  familiar  terms  with  all  the  household 
appointments,  to  say  nothing  of  washing  the 
dishes  and  serving  at  table.  Do  not  think  I 
am  worrying  about  myself — not  a  bit  of  it ! 
But  I  could  weep  for  him,  poor  boy.  He 
could  not  understand  why  he  must  go  and 
live  apart,  but  it  had  to  be  done.  He  is  a 
tall,  handsome  fellow,  not  showing  the  dis 
ease  on  his  face  or  hands  at  all,  and  he  has 
always  taken  great  pride  in  his  personal  ap 
pearance.  Now  he  must  go  out-of-doors  to 
work,  and  I  have  helped  him  to  fit  up  a  little 
matting  hut  where  he  can  live  by  himself. 
It  must  be  perfectly  dreadful  to  feel  that  no 
one  wants  you  near,  and  that  every  one  is 
afraid  of  you.  He  will  eventually,  I  suppose, 
become  an  inmate  of  the  leper  asylum  near 
by,  which  is  under  our  jurisdiction. 

You  ask  how  it  feels  to  live  on  intimate 
terms  with  smallpox,  leprosy,  cholera  and 
plague.  Well,  we  do  not  stop  to  think  of 
feeling,  but  just  forge  ahead,  do  the  thing 
that  turns  up  next  the  best  we  can,  and  then 
rush  on  to  something  else. 

To  add  to  my  trials  and  tribulations,  a 
dear  little  Christian  boy  who  had  been  very 
ill  in  the  hospital,  but  had  reached  the  con 
valescent  stage,  was  stolen  away  last  night 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        109 

by  his  heathen  grandmother.  She  will  have 
buried  herself  in  the  fastnesses  of  heathen 
dom  and  there  will  be  no  use  trying  to  search 
her  out.  The  mother,  who  is  a  Christian,  is 
frantic. 

This  is  a  patchy  letter,  but  I  have  been  con 
stantly  interrupted. 

Mhableshwar,  May  25,  19 — . 
By  turning  my  head  slightly  on  the  pillow 
I  get  a  lovely  sea-green  view  of  mountains 
which  would  be  all  high  lights  and  purple 
shadows  if  the  green  bamboo  curtain  at  the 
door  did  not  give  its  own  tinge  to  all  things 
beyond  it.  A  lovely  breeze  is  stirring  the 
tree  branches  and  eliciting  a  melodious  squeak 
from  my  half-hinged  back  door.  For  here  I 
am  flat  on  my  back,  taking  rest  cure  with 
overfeeding.  Do  not  dream  for  a  moment 
that  I  am  taking  a  hot  season  vacation.  Not 
I !  Life  is  too  strenuous  for  any  such  dally 
ing,  and  I  am  not  shirking  the  white  man's 
burden.  I  had  to  come  up  four  days  ago  to 
operate  on  a  missionary,  and  while  he  con 
valesces  I  take  the  cure  ;  which  means  that  I 
have  my  meals  in  bed  and  spend  five  days 
lolling  thereon,  except  when  I  have  to  rise  to 
make  a  professional  call  upon  this  same 
brother.  Ten  days'  attention  to  him  will 


110        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

suffice,  and  then  I  descend  to  that  place  which 
is  like  unto  Hades,  where  hot  winds  tear  up 
the  works  from  dawn  till  dark,  and  where 
even  the  adder  and  cockatrice  seek  coolness 
and  a  refuge  from  the  burning  sun  in  the 
dampness  of  my  much  besplashed  bath-room, 
though  the  mercury  stands  at  only  one  hun 
dred  twelve  in  the  shade. 

The  mists  have  been  rolling  up  these  last 
few  days,  following  in  the  wake  of  some  very 
severe  storms.  The  views  have  been  magnif 
icent — the  whole  sky  black  save  for  a  rim  of 
light  where  the  sun  sets,  which  burnishes  up 
the  mountain  peaks  and  gives  the  whole 
landscape  the  most  wonderful  tinge.  The 
colour  of  the  atmosphere  has  been  a  study ; 
not  exactly  green  or  saffron,  but  as  if  painted 
with  an  invisible  brush,  and  I  feel  like  stretch 
ing  out  my  hand  to  touch  it,  or  to  stir  it  with 
my  finger.  The  bulbuls  come  to  bathe  in  the 
pools  of  water  standing  in  cups  of  rock  just 
beyond  the  veranda. 

June  2d. 

The  picture  which  I  enclose  is  in  celebra 
tion  of  my  departure  from  the  rest-cure,  gay 
as  ever,  having  given  dull  care  the  go-by  for 
a  few  brief  days.  It  was  taken  in  a  moun 
tain  fastness  known  as  Arthur's  Seat,  thus 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        111 

named  for  reasons  known  to  heaven  alone ; 
for  so  far  as  sitting  purposes  are  concerned  it 
is  simply  impossible.  Who  Arthur  was  or 
why  he  risked  his  life  by  attempting  such  a 
pose,  is  beyond  my  ken. 

The  fat  man  is  a  professor  from  a  Bombay 
college,  whose  face  runs  down  with  water  at 
the  mere  sight  of  a  woman,  in  whose  presence 
he  at  once  begins  to  puff  and  look  about  for 
a  way  of  escape.  Hence  I  am  very  fond  of 
him,  and  enjoy  nothing  better  than  talking  to 
him  tete-&-tete  while  studying  the  triumphs  of 
perspiratory  glands.  He  is  a  good  old  soul, 
nevertheless,  and  brainy. 

The  fierce  one  is  another  professor  of  the 
same  college.  His  murderous  expression  is 
not  due  to  an  intent  to  kill,  but  to  the  sun 
shining  directly  into  his  eyes.  I  will  not 
vouch,  however,  for  his  mental  state — he 
doubtless  thought  Miss  Pentup  and  me 
"  pushing,"  as  "  most  Americans  are,"  and 
we  may  have  pushed  at  that  particular  mo 
ment,  as  there  was  no  place  to  .stand  or  sit, 
and  a  sheer  precipice  below  of  I  do  not  know 
how  many  feet. 

These  are  precious  days  at  the  hills — how 
I  dread  the  plains  again  with  their  intermi 
nable  grind  !  To-day  the  wind  is  howling 
among  the  trees,  making  it  seem  like  No- 


112        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

vember  at  home ;  every  evening  a  mass  of 
cloud  hangs  over  the  hills  like  a  pall,  and  the 
mists  shut  out  the  world  beyond  our  stone 
wall.  Whenever  I  go  through  the  woods  I 
find  at  least  one  beautiful  orchid  clinging  to 
a  moss-grown  tree,  and  the  ground  is  dotted 
with  white  jacks-in-the-pulpit. 

Yesterday  a  friend  and  I  clambered  down 
a  gorge  where  monkeys  were  playing  ;  kites 
were  soaring  in  the  blue,  birds  were  chirrup 
ing  in  the  trees,  and  away  down  in  the  depths 
of  the  forest  below  us  two  whistling  school 
boys  were  idling  away  their  time  and  finger 
ing  the  marbles  in  their  pockets.  You  must 
know  that  the  whistling  schoolboy  is  a  bird 
with  the  most  ravishing  notes — I  have  never 
heard  anything  so  rich  and  full  and  melodious 
in  my  life.  As  we  sat  there  on  a  rock,  ex 
pectant,  still,  breathless,  we  caught  a  glimpse 
of  one,  deep  blue  on  head  and  neck  and 
black  beneath. 

I  go  down  Wednesday.  Report  says  the 
plains  are  suffocating, 

"But  women  must  work  and  men  must  weep, 
Though  rain  be  hidden  and  dust  be  deep." 

Karad,  June  29,  19 — . 
My  dear  Eleanor : 

Two  weeks  ago  one  of  the  brethren 
pumped   his   bicycle  tires  full  of  water  and 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        113 

started  out  to  sprint,  mercury  at  one  hun 
dred  and  ten  degrees.  He  had  not  gone  far 
before  the  heat  of  the  sun-scorched  soil  trans 
formed  his  water  into  steam,  and  the  whole 
thing  blew  up  with  a  great  explosion.  The 
brother  still  lives  to  tell  the  tale. 

But  all  that  is  changed  now  ;  the  thirsty 
land  has  become  a  pool,  and  the  burning  sun 
is  hidden  behind  a  blanket  of  cloud.  This  is 
the  season  I  love,  the  time  that  I  can  sleep 
and  sing  and  be  happy.  A  bulbul  has  built 
his  nest  in  the  vines  which  run  over  the  ve 
randa  and  makes  every  morning  glad  with 
his  little  song  of  praise.  Mrs.  Bulbul  sits  on 
her  eggs  nearly  the  whole  day,  and  soon 
some  little  birdies  will  be  stretching  out  their 
scrawny  necks  and  opening  their  absurd  lit 
tle  bills  for  food.  Every  day  I  scatter  crumbs 
in  the  vicinity  of  their  home  and  they  are  be 
coming  quite  neighbourly. 

At  the  risk  of  boring  you  terribly  with 
more  shop,  I  am  going  to  tell  you  of  a  case 
which  interested  me  very  much.  It  was  a 
new  experience  for  me  in  the  eye  line.  It 
seems  to  me  that  I  must  have  done  by  this 
time  every  operation  which  can  be  done  upon 
the  eye,  and  cataract  extraction  is  a  daily  oc 
currence,  but  this  was  a  couched  lens.  In 
remote  parts  of  the  country  where  Western 


114        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

science  has  not  as  yet  penetrated,  are  native 
doctors  or  hakims  who  often  operate  on  cat 
aracts.  They  thrust  a  fine  needle  through 
the  cornea,  tip  the  lens  over  so  that  one  end 
floats  back  into  the  vitreous,  while  the  other 
comes  forward  into  the  aqueus.  This  leaves 
about  half  of  the  pupil  clear  and  gives  the 
patient  fairly  good  vision.  The  sequellse  are 
never  good,  however,  for  the  operation  is  al 
ways  followed  sooner  or  later  by  inflamma 
tion  and  total  loss  of  vision. 

The  case  of  which  I  write  had  not  only  the 
lens  couched,  but  it  contained  a  calcareous 
deposit,  and  the  iris  was  adherent  to  it  all 
around. 

I  had  operated  on  the  other  eye  a  few  days 
before  with  a  perfect  result,  but  when  one  is 
in  this  shape  you  have  to  make  a  very  large 
incision  and  go  in  with  a  scoop.  In  this  case 
the  adherent  iris  held  the  lens  back,  and  it 
simply  refused  to  deliver,  but  finally  the  cap 
sule  broke,  I  fished  out  all  the  debris  with 
scoop  and  iris  forceps,  and  the  patient  has  a 
splendid  eye.  Surgery  is  getting  to  be  an 
old,  though  always  interesting,  story  to  me, 
but  when  something  unusual  like  this  comes 
along,  it  stirs  up  my  ambition  not  a  little. 

I  shall  never  forget  how  a  cataract  extrac 
tion  used  to  impress  me  in  the  old  days  of 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        115 

interning  in  the  hospital  at  home.  In  the 
light  of  experience  I  can  even  be  amused.  I 
never  wanted  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
one,  I  was  so  afraid  of  it,  but  I  always  watched 
every  step  with  the  eye  of  a  cat,  fairly  hold 
ing  my  breath  until  the  safe  delivery,  and 
then  gazing  with  worshipful  eyes  upon  the 
paragon  of  skill  who  had  accomplished  such 
a  feat 

And  the  after  treatment !  The  patient, 
not  permitted  to  raise  his  head  for  three  days, 
was  fed  through  a  tube  and  all  that,  while  we 
permit  our  patients  to  walk  from  the  operat 
ing-room — unless  there  is  something  unusual 
to  contraindicate  it, — and  to  eat  his  regular 
meals  and  amuse  himself  as  best  he  can. 

The  hospital  is  full,  but  I  manage  the  work 
very  well  in  this  weather,  though  I  am  sure 
if  it  were  dry  and  hot  I  should  be  completely 
distracted.  Ramaji  is  such  a  splendid  help, 
following  me  about  like  a  faithful  dog,  and 
carrying  out  my  orders  and  wishes  to  the 
letter.  Now  and  then,  when  there  is  time,  I 
help  him  with  his  English  and  mathematics, 
for  he  is  studying  for  the  government  matric 
ulation  examination,  hoping  to  work  out  an 
arts  degree  in  the  dim  and  distant  future. 
He  is  a  splendid  Sanskrit  scholar  and  gives 
me  some  aid  occasionally,  though  I  do  very 


116        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

little   studying   except   for  the  medical  lec 
tures. 

There  comes  a  call,  so  au  revoir  for  a 
space. 

Two  days  later. 

It  was  a  frightful  case  of  which  I  cannot 
tell  you,  but  which  made  even  me,  practiced 
hand  that  I  am,  shudder  and  grow  cold — 
a  patient  brought  tardily  to  me  to  ward  off 
death  with  my  Christian  instruments  and 
antisepsis.  But  do  you  know,  these  cases 
alone  furnish  plenty  of  raison  d'etre  for  mis 
sions.  The  successful  treatment  of  them 
opens  an  avenue  whereby  Christianity,  clean 
liness,  hygiene,  physiology,  and  civilization 
may  be  marshalled  in,  though  the  marshall 
ing  process  depends  very  vitally  upon  the 
amount  of  time  the  missionary  can  eke  out 
for  simple  lecturing  now  and  then.  There 
ought  to  be  a  course  of  illustrated  lectures 
carried  on  from  day  to  day  for  the  benefit  of 
the  convalescents. 

But  I  must  not  weary  you  with  any  more 
shop.  Instead,  here  is  variety  for  you  in  the 
shape  of  "  A  Narrow  Escape  from  Death  by  a 
Mad  Bull."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was 
tremendous  danger,  but  Miss  Pentup  and  I 
are  so  accustomed  to  meeting  all  sorts  of 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        117 

animals  in  our  walks  that  we  never  think  of 
being  afraid. 

We  were  resting  upon  the  parapet  of  a 
bridge,  which  crossed  an  empty  river-bed 
some  twenty  feet  below,  watching  the  throngs 
return  from  the  bazaar,  when  a  magnificent 
bull,  led  by  his  owner,  espied  us.  The  sight 
seemed  to  arouse  all  his  Eastern  prejudice  and 
antipathy  and  he  swooped  down  upon  us  with 
snortings  and  flashing  eyes. 

Miss  Pentup  slipped  around  the  end  of  the 
bridge  and  down  the  slope  of  the  river  bank, 
but  I  was  not  in  a  position  to  do  that  and  so 
could  only  execute  some  sort  of  a  somersault 
over  the  parapet,  to  which  I  clung  by  my 
finger  nails.  The  beast  was  within  a  foot  of 
my  face,  but  the  man  interposed,  and  while 
beating  him  back  with  a  stick,  seized  me  by 
the  arm  and  dragged  me  up  over  the  bridge, 
fearful,  no  doubt,  that  I  would  be  killed  if  I 
dropped  down  to  the  stony  river-bed. 

While  the  infuriated  creature  chased  my 
rescuer  down  the  road  I  managed  to  stagger 
into  hiding  beneath  the  bridge,  where  Miss 
Pentup  and  I  cowered  until  the  bellowings 
and  pawings  ceased,  and  we  saw  the  hero 
of  the  hour  lead  away  his  vanquished 
property. 

When    we    emerged    we    reflected    each 


118        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

other's  pallor,  I  imagine,  and  I  still  feel  my 
bruises. 

If  I  can  discover  who  our  brave  rescuer 
was,  he  shall  have  a  reward. 

Karad,  Aug.,  19 — . 
My  dearest  Eleanor  : 

I  did  not  intend  to  let  so  long  a  time 
pass  before  answering  your  delightful  letter, 
but  you  know  how  it  is  with  me,  so  no  ex-, 
planations  are  necessary.  If  you  could  see 
me  doing  not  only  my  medical  work  and  lay 
ing  down  the  law  to  coolies  and  servants,  but 
attending  to  all  sorts  of  business  and  cor 
respondence,  sending  telegrams,  writing 
orders  and  checks,  paying  bills,  and  I  do 
not  know  what  all  besides,  you  would  wonder 
how  I  ever  find  time  for  a  friendly  chat  with 
my  old  girl. 

You  certainly  seem  to  be  making  a  success 
of  your  literary  career — I  cannot  tell  you 
how  thoroughly  I  enjoyed  your  last  book. 
See  that  you  do  not  fail  to  send  me  a  copy  of 
every  one.  You  seem  to  have  harnessed  up 
literature  and  matrimony  into  a  pretty  good 
team,  both  trotting  along  at  a  most  satisfac 
tory  pace.  May  the  gods  be  with  thee  !  I 
gloated  over  your  bright  newsiness,  regarded 
with  respect  your  common  sense,  and  tried  to 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        119 

swallow  your  sage  advice.  But  there  is  no 
use  talking  about  living  upon  the  interest  of 
one's  health  capital  in  this  climate  and  with 
this  work.  It  is  impossible.  I  have  already 
used  up  my  interest  and  have  begun  to  draw 
only  too  surely  upon  my  capital.  My  hope  is, 
however,  that  an  occasional  outing  with  com 
plete  rest  from  my  labours  will  be  sufficient  to 
restore  the  capital  periodically. 

There  is  no  rest  for  the  wicked  at  present 
nor  until  the  Whites  return  from  furlough.  I 
am  beginning  to  anticipate  their  arrival  by 
having  the  bungalow  whitewashed  and  re- 
matted. 

Little  Nancy,  the  baby  at  the  manse,  has 
just  recovered  from  a  severe  illness,  and  they 
think  I  am  the  whole  thing  for  having  pulled 
her  through.  I  should  have  died  if  she  had, 
for  the  anxiety  which  comes  from  treating 
missionaries  is  more  wearing  than  anything 
else  I  have.  There  have  also  been  sick  chil 
dren  at  a  neighbouring  station,  and  I  have 
had  to  drive  over  there  every  day  for  two 
weeks.  The  Merwins  I  have  sent  to  Australia. 
I  pleaded  with  them  to  go  home  to  America, 
but  they  refused  because  they  knew  they 
would  not  be  returned.  Their  hearts  are  in 
their  work,  they  have  practically  laid  down 
their  lives  for  it,  and  they  wish  to  complete 


120        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

the  sacrifice  by  dying  in  it.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  I  do  not  know  what  they  would  do  if 
they  did  return  to  America,  unfitted  for  any 
occupation  there  as  they  are,  unless  it  were 
to  take  up  their  abode  in  a  charitable  institu 
tion,  which  would  indeed  be  a  pity.  And  he 
with  all  those  degrees,  to  say  nothing  of  his 
culture  and  braininess,  and  she  with  a  voice 
which  might  have  brought  her  a  fortune  ! 

Well,  as  I  could  not  sit  down  and  see  them 
die,  I  compromised  on  a  sea  voyage,  and 
they  consented  to  go  to  Australia.  It  is  sure 
to  accomplish  something  for  them. 

Many  of  our  missionaries  are  at  the  point 
of  breaking  down.  They  think  they  must 
remain  in  the  field  the  whole  term  unless 
actually  bedridden,  so  they  go  on  and  on  un 
til  they  reach  the  breaking-point  and  then 
snap  goes  a  good  and  well-trained  man  or 
woman.  It  is  strange  that  the  Board  does 
not  see  how  much  more  economical  it  would 
be  to  insist  upon  a  missionary's  taking  a  good 
long  furlough  say  once  in  five  years  and  thus 
keep  him  able  to  work  throughout  a  long  life, 
than  to  be  constantly  having  to  set  aside  ex 
perienced  preachers,  teachers,  and  physicians 
for  health  reasons  and  as  constantly  going  to 
the  expense  of  equipping  and  training  new 
ones. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA.        121 

I  can  put  my  finger  on  six  people  who 
practically  have  one  foot  in  the  grave,  and 
yet  they  are  planning  to  remain  out  here  an 
other  year  because  they  think  they  must. 

The  strain  upon  them  all  is  terrible.  Each 
one  doing  the  work  of  ten  men  in  this  climate 
and  amid  these  unnatural  conditions.  You 
cannot  imagine  how  the  life  affects  one. 
With  our  peculiarities  accentuated  from  failure 
to  rub  up  against  our  own  world,  we  all  be 
come  queer  and  freaky  and  full  of  notions. 

But  to  return  to  the  weather ;  snakes  are 
everywhere.  The  other  night  I  took  out  my 
mandolin  for  the  first  time  in  months,  and 
after  I  had  played  a  little,  all  sorts  of  creatures 
— centipedes,  spiders,  crickets,  and  what  not 
came  to  the  concert.  They  were  not  very 
welcome,  however,  and  I  soon  fell  to  slaying 
them. 

Day  before  yesterday  Miss  Pentup  and  I 
were  out  for  our  usual  constitutional,  when 
we  met  two  men  going  at  a  great  rate  on 
camel-back — you  know  the  camel  is  a  very 
fast  trotter — and  we  fell  upon  our  faces  and 
entreated  the  boon  of  a  ride,  which  was 
granted  with  very  good  grace  and  elaborate 
salaams.  The  sensations  are  something 
fierce.  You  know  the  beast  kneels  for  the 
riders  to  mount ;  but  the  rising  thereof !  It 


122        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

is  like  the  rearing  and  plunging  of  a  storm- 
tossed  ship,  with  first  a  lurch  to  starboard 
and  then  a  lunge  to  port.  But  finally  we 
found  ourselves  in  the  air  and  borne  along 
the  king's  highway  at  a  slow  and  stately 
pace.  We  were  not  a  little  alarmed  by  the 
vocal  expressions  of  our  noble  steed  and  the 
inquisitive  and  disapproving  turnings  of  his 
head,  but  were  reassured  by  the  driver,  who 
led  him  by  a  rope  attached  to  a  sharp  iron 
that  had  been  thrust  through  the  poor 
beast's  nose. 

Karad,  Sept.>  19 — . 

I  am  just  home  from  a  dinner-party,  and 
the  unwonted  dissipation  renders  me  com 
municative  to  a  degree.  It  was  given  by 
one  of  the  nurses,  and  the  guests  besides 
myself  were  two  sisters,  the  native  pastor, 
and  the  head  chemist.  I  was  enthroned 
upon  the  only  chair  in  the  room,  while  the 
others  occupied  boxes  and  the  floor.  The 
first  course,  consisting  of  some  sort  of  sweet 
stuff  served  in  long  white  streamers,  and 
prepared  by  pressing  a  sweet  dough  through 
a  porous  basket  which  has  previously  been 
scoured  with  holy  cow-dung,  is  considered  a 
great  dainty,  and  I  ate  a  bit  of  it  with  con 
siderable  relish,  not  having  learned  until 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        123 

afterwards  the  technique  of  its  preparation. 
The  second  course  was  rice  and  curry,  the 
latter  so  hot  with  red  peppers  and  various 
seeds  that  it  burned  all  the  way  down  and 
for  a  long  time  afterwards.  Then  came  thin 
cakes  of  special  Indian  make,  and  lastly,  pan- 
suparri,  which  renders  the  lips  and  tongue  a 
fiery  red  and  contracts  the  mucous  membrane 
of  the  mouth  like  alum. 

The  head  chemist  is  an  elder  in  the  church 
— you  ought  to  see  him.  He  looks  like  a 
fiend  incarnate,  and  occasionally  indicates 
that  appearances  are  not  always  deceiving. 
His  sins  are  those  of  Bluebeard.  At  the  last 
communion  service  he  thought  to  remove 
every  objection  from  the  taking  of  the  com 
mon  cup  by  carefully  wiping  the  rim  of  the 
glass  with  his  pocket  handkerchief  after  each 
individual  sipping.  That  article  was  terribly 
soiled  and  wrinkled,  but  his  intentions  were 
good — there  is  no  doubt  of  that. 

To-day  such  a  pitiful  little  case  came  in — 
a  child  whose  arm  had  grown  fast  to  her 
side  as  the  result  of  a  burn.  It  is  a  common 
thing  for  them  to  fall  into  the  open  braziers 
of  coals  which  the  natives  have  in  their 
houses,  it  never  occurring  to  the  parents 
afterwards  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  way 
healing  and  contraction  are  taking  place, 


124        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

until  they  have  a  marked  deformity.  This 
arm  had  to  be  dissected  up  and  skin-grafting 
done,  and  the  remarkable  thing  about  it  all 
is  that  the  mother  offered  her  own  skin  for 
it.  In  all  the  previous  cases  of  this  kind 
which  we  have  had,  I  have  never  seen  such 
an  instance  of  self-sacrifice. 

The  monsoon  has  not  amounted  to  much 
on  the  whole,  and  one  hears  all  sorts  of  dire 
predictions  about  famine.  The  heat  makes 
the  work  triple  the  burden,  and  we  are  all 
just  about  worn  out.  Miss  Pentup  looks 
like  a  corpse,  and  the  nurses  are  simply 
worked  to  death.  The  other  day  one  of 
them  fainted  while  helping  me  in  the  operat 
ing-room. 

Karad,  Oct.,  19 — . 

I  am  as  blue  as  a  whetstone  and  wish  that 
the  whole  world  had  a  single  head  that  I 
might  chop  it  off  at  a  blow !  It  is  work, 
work,  work,  from  dawn  till  dark,  without  a 
single  pause  excepting  for  hurried  meals.  It 
does  seem  as  if  all  the  people  would  eventu 
ally  get  themselves  cut  and  sewed  and  give 
us  a  rest.  I  love  my  work,  and  the  harder 
it  is  and  the  more  of  it,  the  better  my  soul  is 
satisfied,  but  it  is  more  than  one's  body  and 
mind  can  endure  with  never  a  respite,  and  it 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA.        125 

is  pretty  difficult  to  do  everything  justice  in 
such  a  rush. 

You  say  it  is  madness,  and  advise  me  to 
let  the  extras  slip,  but  that  is  impossible.  If 
you  were  here  you  would  understand  that  so 
long  as  you  are  able  to  crawl  you  cannot  re 
fuse  to  minister  to  these  poor,  suffering, 
hopeless  specimens  of  humanity. 

The  children's  hospital  is  full  to  overflow 
ing,  babies  in  the  beds  and  all  over  the  floor, 
shrieking  until  the  place  is  a  perfect  Bedlam. 
Pathetic?  Well,  if  you  want  real  pathos 
without  any  alloy,  just  come  and  take  a 
glance  at  their  poor  little  shrunken  bodies, 
some  deformed,  most  of  them  half-starved, 
with  their  drawn,  pinched  little  faces,  and 
patient,  solemn  eyes.  Sometimes  I  rush  out 
in  a  mist  of  tears,  and  go  back  to  the 
helpers'  quarters  to  restore  my  equilibrium 
by  playing  for  a  few  brief  minutes  with  the 
nice  little  brown  rolls  of  fat  which  demon 
strate  the  quality  that  India  can  produce  in 
anti-starvation  circumstances. 

Last  week  I  had  to  go  up  to  Poona  on 
business,  so  I  took  occasion  to  run  down  to 
Kedgaon  to  see  Pandita  Ramabai  and  her 
work.  I  was  charmed  with  the  Pandita. 
She  is  rather  short  and  stout  and  always 
wears  the  native  sari  in  white.  She  has  a 


126        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

round,  pleasant  face,  lighted  with  keen,  blue- 
gray  eyes  which  can  look  volumes  of  love 
and  sympathy  when  occasion  offers.  Her 
dark  hair,  now  threaded  with  silver,  floats 
back  from  a  noble  brow  which  shelters  a 
mine  of  learning  and  wisdom.  Of  course 
you  know  her  history — how  she  was  the 
daughter  of  learned  Brahmin  parents,  who 
taught  her  as  they  would  a  son ;  how  she 
was  left  an  orphan  during  one  of  the  terrible 
famines,  and  wandered,  starving,  from  shrine 
to  shrine  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  India.  Then  she  lectured  upon  the  condi 
tion  of  Hindu  women  ;  went  to  England ;  oc 
cupied  the  chair  of  Sanskrit  in  a  woman's 
college  there,  and  at  the  same  time  pursued 
studies  in  English  and  mathematics ;  she  was 
converted  to  Christianity ;  visited  America ; 
and  returned  to  India  with  money  for  a  work 
for  women.  Her  books,  her  lectures,  her 
prayers,  her  labours  have  wrought  greatly. 
She  has  now  an  immense  plant  at  Kedgaon, 
with  good  buildings,  schools,  and  industrial 
instruction,  where  more  than  fourteen  hun 
dred  girls  and  women  are  cared  for. 

At  present  they  are  having  a  great  revival 
in  their  midst ;  you  never  saw  anything  like 
it.  About  a  thousand  of  these  girls  get  to 
praying  aloud  all  at  once,  and  all  a  different 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        127 

prayer.  Some  have  writhings  and  some 
shudders  and  convulsions,  while  occasionally 
one  falls  upon  the  floor  senseless.  They  say 
that  the  movement  is  attended  with  great 
demonstrations — visions  and  dreams,  tongues 
of  fire,  and  speaking  in  unknown  languages. 
Certainly  the  effect  upon  the  girls,  spiritu 
ally,  has  been  most  remarkable,  transform 
ing  lives  and  character  in  a  marvellous  way. 

Karad,  Dec.,  19 — . 

The  Whites  have  been  back  three  weeks. 
You  can  imagine  how  glad  I  was  to  see  them 
and  to  turn  over  some  of  my  responsibilities. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  my  actual  work 
is  not  lightened  at  all,  for  the  patients  are  so 
numerous  that  we  have  to  keep  going  up  to 
the  limit,  and  with  much  more  help  would 
scarcely  get  any  time  to  breathe.  When  I 
make  my  rounds  at  night  I  have  to  pick  my 
way  among  the  patients  sleeping  on  the  floor 
and  carefully  step  over  them,  so  crowded  are 
we.  In  the  operating-room  we  have  not  yet 
found  a  solution  for  our  difficulties.  At  first 
I  assisted  Dr.  White  with  his  operations,  and 
then  he  assisted  me  with  mine,  but  that  con 
sumed  so  much  time  that  we  are  now  run 
ning  two  tables  at  once,  dividing  the  instru 
ments,  internes  and  nurses,  and  keeping 


128        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

things  humming  generally.  I  like  it  tre 
mendously,  and  feel  that  I  have  found  my 
sphere  in  life.  There  is  nothing  in  all  the 
world  like  a  surgical  career,  and  I  can 
scarcely  think  or  speak  of  anything  else,  a 
fact  of  which  you  are  doubtless  only  too  well 
aware  by  this  time,  if  you  judge  from  my 
letters.  I  am  planning  to  go  away  soon  for 
a  week's  rest  and  recreation,  having  received 
yesterday  a  letter  from  the  husband  of  a 
G.  P.  (grateful  patient)  containing  an  invita 
tion  to  the  mountains,  with  a  shooting  ex 
pedition  in  prospect.  It  did  not  take  me 
long  to  decide  to  cut  loose  for  a  few  days 
from  the  diseases  of  women  and  children, 
lectures,  anorexia,  insomnia  and  neuras 
thenia,  for  the  sake  of  taking  a  rest  on  the 
mountain  top. 

We  are  enjoying  the  full  fruitage  of  the 
scant  rains,  for  not  only  has  the  price  of 
grain  tripled,  but  a  water  famine  has  over 
taken  us.  The  fields  show  drooping,  sickly 
crops,  the  plants  and  vegetables  of  our  own 
compound  have  withered  away  ;  the  hospital 
is  smelly  and  steamy,  the  wards  reeking 
with  unwashed  patients.  What  little  water 
we  must  have  is  drawn  a  long  distance  on 
carts,  and  is  as  precious  as  silver  or  gold. 

At  Shahapur  the  beautiful  gardens  are  a 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        129 

wilderness  of  dry  sticks  ;  it  will  require  years 
to  restore  them  to  their  original  beauty. 
Cholera  has  been  raging  there,  but  is  better 
now— only  forty  deaths  a  day,  while  a  week 
ago  the  average  was  one  hundred  and  one. 
The  water  famine  is  the  cause  of  it  all.  It  is 
a  wonder  the  government  would  not  put  in 
some  irrigating  works,  instead  of  which, 
however,  the  Maharajah  has  set  up  a  golden 
image  on  a  hill  whither  the  people  flock  to 
worship.  A  few  sanitary  measures  would 
also  be  quite  appropriate  to  the  time  and 
season,  but  that  does  not  occur  to  the  royal 
mind. 

Karad,  Jan.,  19 — . 
Dear  old  Girl : 

Whenever  I  stop  to  think  of  it  I  am 
sick  and  faint  with  an  exultation  which  seems 
the  most  unreal  thing  in  all  this  unreal  life 
out  here.  But  I  must  tell  you  all  about  it 
from  the  beginning.  I  went  to  the  moun 
tains  and  had  my  shooting  expedition  as 
longed  and  planned  for.  The  day  of  the 
hunt  dawned  bright  and  clear  ;  a  stiff  breeze 
blew  up  from  the  east,  but  it  would  have 
taken  more  than  an  east  wind  to  chill  my 
ardour,  for  in  my  veins  was  leaping  a  great 
excitement. 


130        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Reports  of  my  professional  prowess  had 
reached  the  indulgent  ears  of  the  Chief  of 
Vishalgurd,  who  forthwith  called  upon  me 
with  all  his  retinue,  bringing  for  my  use  all 
manner  of  shotguns  and  rifles  and  ammuni 
tion,  and  a  noble  steed  to  convey  me  to  the 
edge  of  the  jungle.  So  on  this  day,  aglow 
with  the  primitive  impulses  of  the  chase,  I 
made  ready  for  the  fray,  donning  my  only 
coat — silk-lined — and  white  kid  gloves — last 
American  remains — stout  shoes  and  a  solar 
topee.  With  glee  I  mounted  the  steed  and 
joined  Mr.  G.  P.  and  son  Bobbie — aged 
twelve — and  a  half-dozen  other  knights  of 
the  chase.  As  we  proceeded  on  our  way  the 
party  was  frequently  augmented  by  sombre, 
blanketed  figures,  which  arose  out  of  the 
ground  and  silently  plodded  along  in  the 
rear,  until  the  procession  numbered  some 
hundred  odd  individuals. 

At  the  edge  of  the  jungle  a  halt  was  called, 
the  blanketed  spectres  cast  off  their  robes  and 
stood  at  attention,  wearing  black  skin  and  a 
belt.  Much  good-natured  parley  ensued  as 
they  were  divided  into  groups  to  begin  their 
howling  and  beating  of  the  jungle.  I  looked 
on  with  a  smile.  Time  was  when  the  mere 
sight  of  one  of  these  fierce-looking  moun 
taineers  would  have  filled  me  with  a  haunting 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        131 

fear,  but  now  I  would  trust  any  one  of  them 
with  my  life. 

It  was  a  strange  scene.  Mine  was  the  only 
white  face,  and  I  sat  my  horse  amusedly  in 
the  midst  of  that  gesticulating,  laughing, 
hideous  mob,  while  the  mountains  reared 
their  bristling  summits  far  above,  and  in  front 
stretched  an  almost  impassable  jungle. 

The  groups  of  beaters  separated  in  various 
directions,  while  the  shooters  moved  on  to 
vantage-points.  After  fording  a  swiftly-flow 
ing  river  I  bade  farewell  to  steed  and  coat 
and  gloves,  and  taking  my  gun  by  proxy  of 
coolie,  began  to  trudge  the  narrow  path  in 
the  rear  of  G.  P.  and  son.  The  jungle  was 
made  up  of  magnificent  trees  and  festoon 
ing  vines,  where  natural  arbours  invited  one 
to  a  cool  rest,  and  spreading  branches  shielded 
from  the  burning  sun.  High  up  the  slope 
beside  a  brook-bed  we  sat  down  to  wait ;  above 
was  a  leafy  canopy,  on  every  side  stupendous 
trees  with  trunks  creeper-clad.  A  white  or 
gandie  butterfly,  trimmed  with  black  silk 
polka  dots,  fluttered  near,  while  another  of 
black  chiffon  poised  delicately  among  the 
green,  and  a  brilliant-hued  humming-bird 
flashed  from  flower  to  flower.  In  the  midst 
of  the  stillness  my  ears  caught  the  sound  of  a 
deer  sharpening  his  horns  upon  the  body  of 


132        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

a  tree.  As  the  cry  of  the  beaters  was  raised, 
fat  jungle  fowl  swept  slowly  and  heavily 
along  just  above  our  heads,  giving  a  plain 
challenge  to  the  guns.  Three  graceful  deer 
came  leaping  over  impassable  fastnesses,  and 
the  sound  of  shot  mingled  with  the  yells  of 
men,  the  smell  of  powder  with  the  odour  of 
wild-flowers. 

After  that  we  had  a  dinner  of  meat,  curry 
and  rice,  rested  in  the  grateful  shade  for  a 
time,  and  then  started  for  another  jungle,  for 
our  blood  was  up  and  we  sighed  for  more 
worlds  to  conquer.  We  had  scarcely  entered 
the  thicket  when  suppressed  exclamations 
announced  evidences  of  a  recent  tiger  prowl. 
There  were  the  tracks  / 

Up  and  up  we  went  through  a  path  cut  by 
a  coolie's  sickle,  the  shooters  dropping  off  one 
by  one  to  take  post  in  a  low  tree  or  dense 
underbrush  to  await  the  prey.  On  a  great 
rock  with  a  commanding  view  Mr.  G.  P. 
and  I  perched.  "  Don't  expect  a  tiger,"  he 
said  as  he  handed  me  my  gun ;  "  they  are 
gotten  by  decoy  and  stealth,  but  the  beaters 
will  likely  scare  up  another  deer." 

The  fierce  sun  beat  down  upon  my  back. 
On  a  distant  hillside  I  could  see  monkeys 
playing  tag  in  a  tree.  After  waiting  what 
seemed  an  interminable  time  the  voices  and 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        133 

din  of  the  beaters  were  borne  to  us  upon  the 
breeze  as  they  gradually  narrowed  their 
circle,  closing  in  towards  the  central  rendez 
vous.  Then  there  was  a  crash  of  underbrush, 
a  huge  tawny  creature  swept  majestically  into 
the  open  space  below.  My  head  swam.  The 
atmosphere  suddenly  took  on  that  intense 
calm  which  accompanies  the  advent  of  a 
crisis.  The  controlled  excitement,  the  alert  at 
tention,  the  sharpening  of  all  the  faculties,  gave 
me  the  feeling  of  a  near  tragedy,  while  at  the 
same  time  I  became  unusually  conscious  of  the 
rubbing  of  grasshopper  wings,  the  twittering 
of  birds,  and  scarlet  jungle  flowers  in  striking 
contrast  to  the  brown  desolation  of  the  thicket. 
As  he  caught  sight  of  us  he  stopped  short 
with  his  tail  lashing  his  beautiful  sides  and 
his  eyes  turned  up  malevolently  towards  us. 
Quicker  than  thought  I  had  brought  my  gun 
to  my  shoulder  at  G.  P.'s  whispered  "  Aim," 
and  as  the  yellow  eyes  gleamed  on  either  side 
the  barrel,  I  pulled  the  trigger  and  took  him 
square.  He  gave  one  awful  howl  of  rage 
as  he  staggered  up,  lowering  his  head  and 
crouching  for  a  spring.  In  the  meantime 
G.  P.  thrust  his  own  gun  into  my  hands, 
and  as  the  wounded  fellow  fell  back  from  the 
face  of  our  rock,  against  which  he  had  struck 
in  his  mad,  blind  leap,  I  put  two  more  bullets 


134       A  BLUESTOCKING  IH  INDIA 

into  him,  and  sank  back,  weak  and  quivering. 
Mr.  G.  P.  dashed  down  the  side  of  the  rock, 
tearing  through  underbrush  and  falling  over 
obstacles  in  the  wildest  excitement  to  the 
place  where  my  tiger  lay  weltering  in  his 
blood,  the  sun  picking  out  the  fulvous  stripes 
of  his  top  side  as  he  lay  stretched  in  his  last 
sleep — a  fallen  king. 

Soon  the  beaters  and  others  came  up  and 
had  a  great  pow-wow  over  his  dead  majesty  ; 
whiskers  and  claws  were  appropriated  as 
charms  and  souvenirs,  but  the  skin  is  mine — 
all  mine,  and  you  shall  lay  your  face  upon  its 
beauty  when  I  bring  it  home. 

At  sunset  time  came  the  tramp  homeward. 
A  prospect  of  dinner  and  sleep  lured  us  to 
human  habitations.  The  sun  touched  the 
ridges  with  a  parting  glow — the  long  shadows 
of  dying  day  overspread  hill  and  tree  ;  the 
evening  air  was  heavy  with  the  fragrance  of 
the  jack-fruit  blossom ;  curious  bulbuls  tipped 
their  cocked  hats  to  us  as  we  wearily  straggled 
along,  while  a  bird-of-paradise  waved  the  long 
white  satin  ribbons  of  his  tail  in  last  farewell. 

Karad,  Feb.,  ip — . 

What  a  land  of  sudden  tragedies  is  this. 
How  sweeping  her  calamities,  how  complete 
her  disasters. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        135 

To-day  a  pitiless  sun  looks  down  upon 
another  new-made  grave  in  the  desolate  little 
tract  of  land  which  we  call  a  cemetery — the 
last  resting-place  of  dear  Mrs.  White.  And 
even  there  all  that  was  left  of  her  to  earth 
could  not  be  permitted  to  sleep  in  peace,  but 
the  hallowed  place  must  be  desecrated  by  a 
heathen  mob,  the  pitiful  little  indications  of 
love  in  the  shape  of  flowers  and  wreathes  and 
wooden  slabs  for  monuments  must  be  torn 
and  scattered,  and  the  fresh-made  mound 
levelled  with  the  earth.  I  am  sick  at  heart, 
crushed  !  I  thought  I  was  before,  but  this 
last  has  taken  my  very  life,  it  seems  to  me. 
After  all  that  she  and  her  husband  stood  for 
in  this  place,  and  his  work,  to  think  that  they 
could  be  so  base,  so  ungrateful !  You  see 
the  cemetery  stands  in  the  shadow  of  an  old 
mosque,  where  once  a  year  the  Mohammedans 
go  in  great  throngs  to  worship,  covering  the 
plain  and  bowing  their  foreheads  to  the  dust 
as  they  cry  "  Allah,  Allah,"  as  it  has  been 
done  for  hundreds  of  years,  at  the  same  place, 
with  the  same  mosque  rearing  its  mysterious 
ruins  in  the  midst  of  them,  changing  only  in 
its  increased  decay  from  year  to  year. 

We  had  supposed  that  in  a  sudden  access 
of  zeal,  and  to  show  their  defiance  and  hatred 
of  the  Christians  in  the  most  violent  way 


136        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

they  dared,  they  had  invaded  our  sacred 
plot,  but  they  aver  that  the  Hindus  did  it 
under  cover  of  the  Mohammedan  feast. 

We  have  not  pressed  the  question,  but  have 
sorrowfully  mended  the  damaged  grounds, 
wetting  with  our  tears  the  barren  soil  where 
nothing  grows. 

Oh,  this  terrible  land  !  The  burning  days, 
the  brassy  skies,  the  winds  like  blasts  from  a 
furnace !  With  the  cruel,  cruel  vultures  ever 
spreading  their  loathsome  pinions  to  swoop 
down  upon  us  even  before  we  are  dead.  I 
could  never  lay  one  of  my  loved  ones  in  that 
city  of  the  dead,  whose  walls  are  guarded  by 
carrion-hungry  birds,  whose  stony  alleys  are 
the  haunt  of  every  venomous  thing. 

It  seems  ages  that  we  have  lived  with  this 
awful  pall  upon  us,  this  shroud  of  death  which 
refuses  to  lift,  but  it  has  been  only  a  matter 
of  days. 

But  three  months  back  from  the  homeland, 
she  was  so  refreshed  and  animated  and  gay, 
doing  little  kindnesses  here  and  there  for 
every  one  and  devoting  herself  especially  to 
sick  missionaries,  of  whom  we  had  some 
half-dozen  here.  It  would  have  broken  your 
heart  to  hear  one  of  them  pray  for  her,  who 
had  ministered  so  divinely  to  him,  at  the 
meeting  for  prayer  we  had  on  that  awful  day. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        137 

For  there  was  but  one  day — from  three  in  the 
morning  until  nine  in  the  evening — every 
thing  which  minds  could  think  of  and  hands 
could  compass  was  done,  but  cholera  must 
have  its  victims  and  death  his  harvest.  .  .  . 

Almost  immediately  was  heard  the  sound 
of  the  carpenter  on  the  veranda  fashioning 
the  rude  coffin,  which  early  in  the  morning 
was  covered  with  black  cloth  by  the  tailor, 
and  lined  with  white.  Flowers  came  from 
the  state  gardens  and  all  the  mission  bunga 
lows  within  reach.  I  hurried  about  as  if  in  a 
nightmare,  with  dry,  burning  eyes  and 
parched  lips,  with  never  a  thought  of  break 
ing  down,  even  when  I,  at  the  organ,  had  to 
carry  the  singing  alone  while  every  one  else 
gave  way  to  sobs.  Dr.  White  was  terrible 
in  his  calm,  but  when  at  the  last  he  pressed 
a  passionate  kiss  upon  those  cold,  unrespon 
sive  lips,  and  rained  tears  upon  that  still, 
marble  face,  I  could  have  shrieked. 

They  had  come  out  in  their  honeymoon 
days,  young  and  eager.  She  had  borne 
equal  burdens  with  him  in  founding  the  work, 
nursing  in  the  hospital,  and  even  in  scrubbing 
and  cleaning  that  all  might  be  aseptic  for  the 
dawning  surgery.  What  with  that  and  the 
birth  and  death  of  little  ones,  her  health  was 
completely  undermined,  and  for  years  she 


138        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

had  been  a  semi-invalid,  until  the  last  few 
months  of  her  life. 

The  same  day  the  dear  though  but  little 
baby  of  the  Stewarts  died  in  Shahapur,  and 
none  of  us  was  there  to  help  or  comfort. 

But  though  our  hearts  are  heavy,  there  is 
no  time  for  grief.  There  were  twenty-six 
operations  yesterday,  with  wards  full  to  over 
flowing,  and  more  clamouring  to  enter. 
Coaching  the  students  and  reviewing  for 
final  examinations,  keeping  things  stirred  up 
spiritually  among  the  Bible  women  and 
nurses — all  these  things  I  suppose  hasten  the 
closing  of  our  open  wound. 

But  I  have  no  feelings  of  sweetness  or 
softness  or  submission.  I  am  consumed  with 
a  sort  of  horror ;  I  scarcely  know  the  drawn, 
white  face  that  looks  back  at  me  from  the 
mirror.  Within,  I  am  all  ragged  edges  and 
irritability — you  do  not  know  what  a  fiend  I 
feel.  When  I  come  home — if  I  ever  do — 
to  rest  my  mean,  ugly  head  upon  your  lov 
ing  breast,  you  will  be  disappointed  and  sad 
to  find  that  your  girlie  is  such  a  beast. 

Karad^  March,  19 — . 
My  dearest  Eleanor  : 

Your  Frida  has  been  to  the  bottom  of 
the  abyss,  but  is  beginning,  after  many  days, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        139 

to  bob  up  serenely  again.  I  have  been  ill. 
I  thought  I  was  going  to  die,  and  1  reckon 
I  did  pretty  nearly.  It  was  a  sensation,  I  can 
tell  you,  but  when  you  are  convinced  that  it  is 
inevitable,  a  great  peace  comes  into  your 
soul  and  you  would  a  little  bit  rather  than 
not.  After  that  phase  passed  I  would  lie 
there  on  the  bed  for  hours,  too  weak  to  lift 
my  hand,  and  dream  of  home  and  loved 
ones,  the  tears  streaming  from  my  closed 
eyes,  while  I  dully  wondered  if,  after  all,  life 
was  worth  the  struggle,  and  telling  myself 
how  much  easier  it  would  be  just  to  let  go 
of  the  threads  which  held  me,  and  "  drift 
away  to  the  silent  sea  where  the  muffled  oar 
was  awaiting  me." 

Girlie,  I  would  burst  if  I  did  not  have  you 
for  a  safety-valve,  but  you  will  forgive  my 
being  just  a  woman  without  a  career  for  a 
bit,  frail  and  shattered,  longing  and  loving. 
I  will  get  over  it  when  my  strength  comes 
back. 

I  wonder  what  you  are  doing — are  you 
thinking  at  all  of  your  far-away  Frida  ? 

A  very  disjointed  letter  is  this  I  am  writing 
in  bed,  and  am  propped  up  with  pillows. 
Yesterday  I  sat  up  for  a  while  and  was  rather 
too  gay  generally,  which  is  probably  the 
reason  for  my  present  languor, 


140        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Nasturtiums  blow  their  sweet  breath  to  me 
from  the  table  near — how  sweet  and  dear 
everybody  is  to  me.  Mrs.  Pritchard  has  been 
my  devoted  slave,  waiting  upon  my  slightest 
wish,  getting  ice  for  me  from  Belgaum,  and 
fruit  from  Poona  and  Bombay  ;  I  certainly 
ought  to  be  sweet  and  patient  among  such 
kind  and  loving  friends — God  has  been  very 
good  to  me.  How  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  fact  that  the  wicked  old  world 
is  full  of  good  people  after  all,  who  are  ready 
to  inconvenience  themselves  to  help  one  bear 
trouble  of  any  kind. 

You  do  not  mean  to  say  that  you  expect 
me  home  at  the  end  of  five  years  ?  It  is  the 
policy  of  this  mission  to  send  its  members 
home  only  when  their  health  is  ruined  and 
they  are  no  longer  able  to  work,  or  at  the 
end  of  eight  years.  They  are  then  returned 
to  their  friends  and  relatives  for  nursing  and 
support,  with  absolutely  no  means  of  liveli 
hood  except  that  which  may  be  inherent  in 
them  to  sponge  successfully.  How  do  you 
like  the  prospect,  eh  ? 

To-day  my  boy  has  put  things  to  rights  a 
little,  and  what  do  you  think  he  found  in  my 
hat,  which  had  hung  undisturbed  on  its  peg 
these  many  weeks  ?  A  field-mouse  with  a 
large  family  of  little  ones,  her  nest  having 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        141 

been  made  of  bits  which  she  had  chewed  from 
my  frocks  suspended  from  neighbouring  pegs. 
The  mice  were  slain  without  mercy  and  I 
shall  have  to  retrim  the  hat  for  style's  sweet 
sake  the  coming  hot  season. 

It  is  the  month  of  marriages — the  sound 
of  tom-toms  comes  to  my  ears  all  day  long, 
and  I  know  that  little  girls  are  being  bound 
to  old  men,  and  that,  to  satisfy  the  demands 
of  custom,  the  fathers  of  daughters  are  going 
into  such  debt  that  they  can  never  extricate 
themselves.  So  is  the  round  of  folly  and 
grief  and  tragedy  kept  up. 

You  say  Beatrice  has  drowned  her  prima 
donna  ambitions  in  matrimony.  Can  it  be 
that  I  am  the  only  one  who  is  true  to  her 
career  ?  But  it  has  its  price,  like  every  other 
love  ;  the  law  of  compensation  never  fails. 

In  a  day  or  two  I  shall  begin  on  the  stu 
dents  with  written  quizzes  and  examinations 
from  my  room.  Pediatrics  will  be  the  first 
subject.  Then,  as  soon  as  I  am  strong 
enough,  Miss  Pentup  and  I  start  north — it  is 
already  one  hundred  and  eleven  degrees  in 
the  shade.  We  shall  rest  a  few  days  in  Bom 
bay,  spend  a  short  time  in  Simla,  take  a  run 
to  the  frontier,  risk  wild  Pathans,  and  then 
have  our  real  holiday  in  [Kashmir.  Every 
one  predicts  dire  things  for  our  return  journey 


142        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

if  we  come  before  the  monsoon  breaks,  for  it 
is  not  safe  to  travel  in  the  heat  of  the  day 
through  the  Central  Provinces.  One  must 
lie  off  in  travellers'  bungalows — which  are 
supplied  with  tatties  and  punkahs — and  must 
travel  only  at  night. 

There  is  talk  of  transferring  me  to  Shahapur 
after  that,  where  I  will  not  have  such  hard 
work.  It  will  break  my  heart  to  give  up  my 
students  and  nurses  and  surgery,  but  I  shall 
have  the  consolations  of  society,  for  there  are 
a  few  military  officers  with  their  families 
living  there,  besides  others  ;  but  society  will 
be  little  compensation  for  the  work  for  which 
one's  heart  is  burning  out.  I  feel,  someway, 
that  it  all  means  farewell  to  my  career  in 
India.  I  can  never  be  content  in  a  less  work 
than  this,  and  yet  there  is  nothing  upon 
which  I  can  put  my  finger  as  an  accomplished 
thing.  The  patients  with  whom  I  have 
come  in  contact ;  the  five  hundred  or  more 
operations  that  I  have  done,  ranging  from 
the  most  delicate  eye  surgery  to  amputations 
and  sections ;  the  little  suffering  children  I 
have  coddled  and  treated  ;  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
with  its  classes  and  improved  spirit  among 
the  girls  ;  the  age  of  chivalry  among  the 
students,  with  their  improved  English  and 
careful  work ;  the  dependableness  of  Ramaji 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IK  INDIA        143 

and  other  assistants,  have  not  been  due  to 
my  own  efforts  exclusively,  for  I  could  not 
have  compassed  any  one  of  them  alone. 
Nor  do  I  know  positively  of  any  converts 
from  heathenism  due  alone  to  my  prayers  or 
words  of  instruction  and  love.  But  God 
knows.  Perhaps  I  am  overly  eager  to  get 
some  credit  for  myself,  but  after  three  years 
of  tireless  labour  it  is  discouraging  to  feel 
that  nothing  has  been  really  achieved. 
I  am  tired  now — good-bye. 

Simla,  April,  19 — 
My  dearest  Angelica  : 

I  am  feeling  so  fine,  all  bundled  up  to 
keep  warm  in  a  little,  low-ceilinged  upper 
room  of  a  tiny  Swiss  chalet  tucked  in  the 
side  of  a  Himalayan  mountain.  Breezes 
which  have  blown  over  snowy  peaks  come 
in  at  the  windows  and  give  us  a  smell  of  the 
eternal  snows.  I  have  been  hoping  to  secure 
some  pictures  of  things  as  they  are  to  send 
you,  but  the  cold  weather  has  frozen  up  all 
my  machinery,  and  the  screw  of  my  kodak 
refuses  to  turn.  My  hot  water-bottle  has  the 
stopper  frozen  in  so  that  it  will  not  budge. 
Everything  in  my  medicine  case  is  reduced 
to  crystal,  and  as  for  my  nose,  the  less  said 
of  its  purple  hue  the  better ! 


144        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Quite  a  contrast  this,  to  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty  degrees  in  the  shade  through 
which  we  passed  in  the  Central  Provinces ! 

Coming  up  the  mountain  the  third-class 
coaches  are  divided  into  three  compartments, 
separated  from  each  other  by  iron  bars  sug 
gestive  of  a  jail  arrangement.  The  middle 
one  was  occupied  by  a  Mohammedan  woman 
with  her  children,  all  clad  in  brilliant  colours, 
and  chewing  the  betel  nut,  whose  crimson 
juice  they  dextrously  squirted  out  of  the 
window.  The  woman  had  thrown  back  her 
bourkha,  revealing  a  pretty  face,  with  mid 
night  eyes  set  wide  apart,  a  short  nose  from 
which  hung  a  golden  pendant  secured  in 
each  nostril  by  a  golden  screw,  full,  curving 
lips,  and  ears  pulled  out  of  shape  by  huge 
rings  on  which  were  suspended  silken  balls. 

While  watching  interestedly  this  product 
of  the  Orient,  we  saw  a  sudden  expression  of 
horror  cross  her  face,  as  she  noticed  for  the 
first  time  two  English  soldiers  in  the  com 
partment  beyond.  Though  they  paid  no  at 
tention  to  her  whatever,  her  Moslem  modesty 
could  not  endure  such  proximity  with  un 
covered  face.  But  the  thought  of  lowering 
her  bourkha,  and  obtaining  air  only  through 
the  two  little  mosquito-netting  squares  for 
the  eyes,  was  equally  unendurable,  so  she 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        145 

compromised  by  suspending  this  garment 
from  the  wire  parcel  receptacle  above.  It 
refused,  however,  to  lend  itself  to  the  perpet 
uation  of  the  purdah  system  and  draped  it 
self  just  so  that  the  soldiers,  whose  attention 
had  now  been  drawn,  could  see  her  frantic 
efforts  to  avoid  them.  Her  futile  struggles, 
the  despair  in  her  pretty  face,  the  assistance 
rendered  by  her  solemn,  fat  children,  were 
decidedly  too  much  for  our  gravity,  and  we 
shook  with  suppressed  laughter. 

In  the  meantime  we  had  been  steadily  as 
cending  ;  the  palm  had  given  place  to  the 
stately  pine,  and  the  rhododendron  flared  its 
scarlet  blossoms  against  the  clear  sky.  Soon 
we  found  ourselves  seated  in  jinrickshas  and 
borne  by  nimble  men  to  our  destination, 
Skipton  Lodge.  The  government  had  just 
come  up  from  Calcutta,  so  the  narrow,  steep 
streets  were  thronged  with  fine  Arabian 
horses  and  'rickshas,  for  only  two  carriages 
are  permitted  in  Simla — those  of  the  Viceroy 
and  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

If  remaining  here  for  any  length  of  time, 
one  may  send  cards  to  Viceregal  Lodge  and 
invitations  will  be  forthcoming  to  various 
functions,  but  we  are  not  looking  for  that 
sort  of  thing.  Walks,  picnics,  and  bazaar 
explorations  have  filled  the  days  thus  far, 


146        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

which  must  be  few,  as  we  are  eager  to  pass 
on  to  Kashmir.  Yesterday  we  went  to  see 
the  opening  sports  of  the  gymkhana,  where 
the  horsemanship  displayed  was  superb  ;  the 
Viceroy's  sixteen-year-old  daughter  tired  out 
two  fine  steeds,  while  she  herself  appeared 
as  fresh  as  ever. 

I  am  feeling  quite  myself  again — all  I 
need  to  set  me  up  is  plenty  of  cold  weather. 

Later. 

The  mail  has  come  from  Karad — the  first, 
after  all  this  time.  One  letter  is  from  Ramaji, 
which  reminds  me  of  an  incident  which  you 
must  know,  since  you  are  my  father  confessor. 

The  afternoon  before  leaving  Karad  I  went 
up  to  the  laboratory  to  see  a  blood  specimen 
which  Ramaji  had  mounted.  If  you  were 
interested  in  malaria  parasites  I  would  dilate 
upon  the  beauty  of  those  changing  red  cells, 
but  you  are  not,  so  I  shall  have  to  content 
myself  with  telling  you  that  I  enthused  over 
them  ad  infinitum.  Suddenly  I  chanced  to 
look  up,  and  then  I  discovered  Ramaji's 
gaze  fastened  upon  me  with  such  a  burning 
expression  of  love,  passion,  adoration  and 
despair,  that  for  a  moment  I  was  startled 
quite  out  of  my  senses.  I  arose  to  go, 
whereupon  he  seized  my  hand  with  incoher- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        147 

ent  words.  I  freed  myself  and  walked  away 
with  great  dignity,  but  words  can  never  tell 
you  what  was  going  on  inside.  To  think 
that  my  faithful  Ramaji  could  have  forgotten 
himself  like  that !  I  have  practically  ignored 
the  fact  that  he  has  a  human  nature  like  the 
rest  of  us,  and  have  treated  him  frankly  as 
my  faithful  subordinate  and  friend,  depend 
ing  upon  him  in  times  of  stress,  and  assist 
ing  him  with  his  studies  as  I  could.  I  sup 
pose  that  my  illness,  and  his  not  having  seen 
me  for  so  long,  aroused  his  apprehensions 
for  my  welfare.  Here  is  his  letter,  without 
date  or  heading. 

"  After  a  long  period  of  silence  between  us 
I  desire  to  open  conversation  by  drawing 
aside  the  veil  of  gloomy  attitude.  I  know 
and  I  believe  this  will  be  a  poison  in  your 
sacred  services.  I  had  a  great  mind  to  see 
you  personally,  but  my  ill  health  and  yours, 
too,  did  not  allow  our  meeting,  yet  this  vast 
and  broad  gulf  of  separation  could  be  crossed 
over  by  means  of  correspondence.  We  are 
kept  so  busy  during  the  day  and  a  great  part 
of  the  night  that  we  have  to  give  up  thinking 
of  our  most  dear  and  sweet  friends.  I  be 
lieve  you  are  enjoying  your  present  business, 
and  hope  you  could  have  enjoyed  it  more  in 
company  of  your  friends." 


148        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

As  I  have  said  before,  Ramaji's  soul  is 
woolly  white;  he  has  been  indispensable  to 
me  in  the  hospital  work,  faithful  to  all  his 
duties,  and  capable  to  a  degree.  I  would 
have  wished  to  keep  his  friendship. 

Siranagar,  Kashmir,  May,  ip — . 
Beloved  Eleanor  : 

I  should  have  dated  this  letter  "  Heaven/' 
for  the  absolute  peace,  beauty  and  grandeur 
of  the  surroundings,  combined  with  the  per 
fect  rest  and  a  delicious  languor  which  per 
meates  one's  very  soul, — as  do  also  the  fra 
grances  and  bird-songs  borne  upon  the  clear 
air — make  life  one  enchanting  dream  from 
which  it  were  cruel  to  be  awakened. 

We  were  weary  enough,  to  be  sure,  for  a 
deserved  rest ;  for  two  hundred  miles  sitting 
in  a  tonga  twelve  hours  out  of  the  twenty- 
four,  travelling  at  the  rate  of  seventy  miles  a 
day,  are  not  usually  conducive  to  other  than 
stiff  muscles  and  a  fagged  spirit.  All  the 
way,  however,  we  had  our  compensations. 
The  air  was  tonic.  The  Jhelum  River  went 
foaming  and  eddying  over  the  rocks,  send 
ing  up  a  cool  mist,  and  whispering  tales  of 
snows,  eternal  solitudes,  and  vast  silences  in 
the  great  heights  whence  it  came.  Some 
times  it  roared  through  a  rocky  canon  whose 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

bottom  we  could  not  see,  so  sheer  and  so 
close  were  its  walls.  Small  streams  leaped 
down  from  the  heights  to  swell  its  volume, 
now  and  then  floating  out  in  lacy  falls  to  the 
road,  and  then  under  picturesque  bridges  to 
the  river  below. 

Words  cannot  describe  the  beauty  of  that 
drive !  Sometimes  the  road  led  through  a 
passage  cut  out  of  solid  rock ;  the  precipi 
tous  walls  at  our  side  would  now  be  dripping 
with  moisture,  now  covered  with  maidenhair 
ferns.  Snow  barriers  shut  us  in  before,  the 
mountains  had  interlaced  to  cut  off  our  re 
treat  behind ;  but  the  road,  crawling  along 
the  sides  of  the  steep  slopes,  curving  in  and 
out,  always  found  the  way  on  and  up  the 
Jhelum  Valley. 

At  last  we  came  to  the  place  where  the 
narrow  pass  widens  into  the  Vale  of  Kashmir, 
with  its  level  green  expanses,  where  the  blue 
iris  flowers  riot,  buttercups  lift  their  faces  to 
the  sun,  and  scarlet  poppies  flaunt  them 
selves  brilliantly  against  the  azure  sky  ;  where 
the  turbulent  river  is  widened  to  a  placid 
stream,  and  the  road  stretches  ahead  like  a 
white  line  between  rows  of  tall,  straight 
poplar  trees. 

But  the  things  we  found  at  the  end  of  the 
road  were  like  the  pot  of  gold  under  the 


150        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

rainbow's  tip,  for  we  are  living  in  house 
boats  in  the  most  ideal  fashion,  with  an  Eng 
lish  woman  who  keeps  a  boarding  establish 
ment  on  a  fleet.  There  is  the  large  boat, 
wherein  are  dining-  and  drawing-rooms ;  a 
small  house-boat,  and  two  doongas,  besides 
small  runabouts  or  shikaras.  Miss  Pentup 
and  I  have  a  doonga  consisting  of  bedroom, 
sitting-room  and  veranda,  and  the  others 
are  occupied  by  six  young  English  women, 
whom  we  have  found  most  companionable. 
One  of  them  we  call  the  Duchess,  and  they 
have  already  decided  my  nationality  to  be 
French,  in  spite  of  my  American  twang. 

And  so  we  have  rested  and  lounged,  drink 
ing  in  the  soft,  cool  air,  our  senses  lulled  by 
the  gentle  lapping  of  the  waters  against  our 
boat  as  some  skiff  is  paddled  near,  laden 
with  exquisite  embroideries,  rugs,  wrought 
copper  and  silver,  or  carved  woods,  or  papier- 
mdchk,  and  manned  by  a  striking-looking 
Kashmiri  vender,  who  plots  the  financial  ruin 
of  his  victims  beneath  his  polite  and  insinu 
ating  exterior. 

Our  boat-mongers  live  in  the  rear  of  the 
boat — three  generations  of  them  ;  but  though 
we  hear  the  babies  cry,  we  never  see  them 
unless  we  call  the  men  or  women — the  latter 
magnificent-looking  creatures — to  punt  us  up- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        151 

stream,  or  paddle  the  small  boat  upon  a 
short  excursion.  They  live  upon  the  boat 
both  summer  and  winter,  and  when  chilly 
blasts  sweep  down  from  the  hills,  they  warm 
themselves  by  tying  baskets  of  coals  about 
their  waists  beneath  the  flowing  kimonos, 
and  comfort  themselves  with  the  festive 
hookah. 

We  have  climbed  Takt,  a  mountain  hard 
by  the  town,  for  the  view.  We  have  paddled 
up  and  down  the  river,  on  whose  banks  are 
ancient  temples  picturesquely  situated  in  the 
chenar  groves,  and  have  idly  watched  the 
pretty  native  women  and  children  working 
or  playing  in  the  water  in  front  of  the  royal 
palace.  We  have  been  to  Dhal  Lake,  through 
Apple-tree  Canal  and  floating  islands — where 
the  air  is  blossom-fragrant  in  June — into  the 
open  waters  whose  clear  depths  reflect  the 
purple  peaks  of  the  Mha  Dev,  whose  banks 
were  a  fit  place  for  the  "  Feast  of  Roses," 
whose  gardens  were  aptly  called  the  "  Abode 
of  Love."  l 

At  the  present  writing  we  are  punting  up 
the  river  to  Islamabad,  between  curving  banks 
where  cows  browse  in  green  pastures,  stately 
herons  fly  low  in  the  blue,  and  rainbow  colours 
flash  back  from  snow  minarets  and  spires. 

'LallaRookh. 


152        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

House-boat  on  the  Jhelum,  June ,  19 — . 

Arrived  at  Islamabad,  we  were  suddenly 
seized  with  a  madness  to  explore  Liddar  Val 
ley  and  set  foot  upon  the  Kolahoi  Glaciers, 
and  five  o'clock  the  next  morning  saw  us  in 
the  saddle,  with  the  boat-monger  for  cook 
and  a  tiffin  basket  between  us  and  starvation. 
For  the  first  three  miles  I  was  in  such  con 
vulsions  of  laughter  that  I  could  scarcely  sit 
my  noble  beast.  You  would  have  perished 
at  the  sight !  The  most  disreputable,  bony, 
thin,  sad-visaged  animals,  tottering  on  their 
poor  little  legs,  caparisoned  with  ropes,  rags, 
and  old  straps,  and  we  sitting  upon  the  high 
native  saddles  in  lordly  fashion.  Miss  Pentup 
is  nearly  six  feet  tall,  her  feet  dragged,  though 
she  kept  herself  doubled  up  as  much  as 
possible — and  I  was  riding  behind  her,  weak 
and  faint  with  the  violence  of  my  emotions. 

It  was  glorious  going,  through  lovely 
green  places  and  by  rollicking  streams,  among 
the  near  and  distant  mountains.  At  break 
fast-time  desertions  reduced  our  number  to 
four.  At  night  we  laid  our  rugs  at  the  foot 
of  a  spreading  walnut-tree,  our  slumbers  dis 
turbed  only  by  the  occasional  flash  of  a  pil 
grim's  torch  as  he  wended  his  way  to  an  old 
Buddhist  monastery  which  crowned  a  neigh 
bouring  height.  At  dawn  we  resumed  our 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        153 

jaunt  with  fresh  horses — mine  kicked  at 
everything*  and  everybody  in  sight,  and  tried 
to  rub  me  off  at  every  passing  tree  and 
boulder. 

As  the  day  grew  we  overtook  a  pair  of 
pedestrians  whom  I  had  met  in  South  India, 
taking  their  honeymoon  in  this  fairy-land. 
They  joined  us,  procured  horses  at  the  next 
village,  and  gave  us  a  sense  of  security  and 
dignity  by  their  presence  and  tenting  outfit. 

As  the  day  waned  our  path  became  a  mere 
thread  along  the  mountain  slope  ;  we  had 
frequently  to  dismount  and  walk  ;  we  forded 
streams,  struggled  up  perpendicular  walls 
and  cantered  over  green  maidans.  Once  the 
path  ended  at  a  huge  boulder  which  jutted 
out  into  the  river,  and  we  had  to  ride  through 
foaming  water  a  part  of  the  way,  and  then 
crawl  over  the  rocks  while  the  ponies  swam 
the  remainder.  Danger  lurked  in  crevices 
and  snow  masses,  and  once,  as  we  were 
crossing  a  torrent  on  a  snow  bridge,  Miss 
Pentup's  horse  fell  through,  and  she  barely 
escaped  with  her  life. 

Just  as  the  sun  was  hiding  his  face  behind 
the  frowning  peaks,  we  found  ourselves  upon 
a  bare,  bleak  hillside,  where  some  magic 
seemed  to  be  in  the  air,  for  there  sprang  out 
of  the  ground  a  fairy,  posing  for  a  "  gentle- 


154        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

man  of  the  old  school,"  who  waved  a  wand, 
and  forthwith  rushed  turbaned  servants  bear 
ing  biscuits,  cakes,  tea,  and  Turkish  Delight. 
Warm  rugs  were  spread  upon  the  ground, 
and  shawls  protected  us  from  the  chilling 
winds.  Later  the  wand  brought  us  a  huge 
camp-fire,  a  smoking  dinner  and  a  second 
tent  to  shelter  us  from  a  pouring  rain. 

He  was  a  strange  individual  for  fairy-land, 
for  he  wore  a  much  patched  Norfolk  and 
knickerbockers,  with  a  dirk  at  his  side  and  a 
revolver  in  his  belt.  A  troop  of  fine  dogs 
responded  to  his  call  and  fawned  upon  him, 
caressing  his  wrinkled  face.  He  proved  to 
be  a  military  veteran  out  shooting  bears. 

The  following  day  we  crossed  the  Liddar 
River  upon  a  frail  bridge  consisting  of  two 
logs  with  crosspieces  tied  on  with  ropes.  It 
was  too  insecure  for  the  ponies,  so  we  left 
them  behind,  cautiously  picking  our  way 
over  the  teetering  structure,  the  waters  toss 
ing  and  foaming  beneath. 

The  scenery  grew  ever  more  magnificent. 
It  was  a  joy  to  pluck  the  rare  edelweis,  the 
violets  and  anemones  ;  to  walk  beneath  the 
ancient  trees,  to  tread  the  ground  familiar  to 
the  bear  and  leopard,  across  slippery  snows, 
over  boulders  and  turbulent  streams. 

But  we  could  not  reach  the  glacier.     As 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        155 

the  sun  rose  high  and  bright,  the  melting 
snows  swelled  the  streams  to  great  rivers, 
which  could  not  be  forded,  and  we  had  to 
abandon  our  project  when  within  a  mile  of 
our  goal. 

The  next  feat  Miss  Pentup  and  I  had  to 
attempt  alone,  as  the  English  ladies  were 
leaving,  and  the  honeymooners  preferred 
love  in  a  house-boat.  Silently  we  drifted 
down  the  Jhelum  in  the  light  of  the  quarter 
moon,  the  broad,  still  waters  reflecting  faintly 
the  trees  and  banks  of  passing  islands.  We 
punted  up  the  Sind  to  Ganderbal,  where  we 
moored  our  boat  in  the  shadow  of  an  old 
bridge. 

The  following  morning  our  caravan,  con 
sisting  of  two  riding  ponies,  three  syces,  two 
pack  ponies,  a  coolie,  Caesar  the  cook,  and  a 
"boy,"  started  in  a  pouring  rain  up  Sind 
Valley.  Thirty  miles  of  lovely  trees  and 
fields,  and  then  the  mountains  closed  in,  the 
path  became  steep  and  rocky,  the  song  of 
the  river  deepened  into  a  tremendous  roar. 
We  travelled  anywhere  from  ten  to  fifteen 
miles  a  day,  running  races  with  thunder 
storms  or  lingering  by  the  banks  of  creeks 
which  raged  in  white  fury  on  their  way  to 
the  valley.  In  the  mornings  we  always  left 
the  horses  with  the  men,  to  walk  in  the 


156        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

ruddy  glow  of  the  dawn  and  drink  in  the 
power  and  mystery  of  these  lovely  solitudes. 

At  fifty  miles  we  came  to  a  sudden  expan 
sion  in  the  valley,  all  emerald  meadows  and 
gentle  slopes,  having  for  a  background 
frowning,  snow-clad  Sonamarg. 

The  path  which  led  to  Ladakh  allured  us, 
for  we  thought  it  would  be  interesting  to  see 
how  the  women  of  that  polyandrous  land 
kept  their  husbands  in  subjection,  crushed- 
looking  as  they  are,  with  their  surprised,  ob 
lique  eyes,  perpetual  smile  and  scanty  beards 
and  hair.  But  the  temptation  was  resisted, 
and  we  pitched  our  tent  by  the  river,  as  it 
rushed  along  in  its  greenish-blue  haste,  leav 
ing  flecks  of  white  foam  in  its  wake.  Under 
a  full  moon  we  shivered  beside  a  crackling 
bonfire,  and  contemplated  the  majestic,  yet 
illusive  works  of  Nature  around. 

We  were  very  keen  on  the  next  expedition, 
which  was  to  the  Gangabal  Lakes.  Horses 
were  practicable  the  first  day,  during  which 
we  forded  rivers  which  swept  us  away  down 
stream,  so  swift  were  they,  and  crawled  along 
the  edges  of  precipices,  over  slippery,  rocky 
paths  which  threatened  at  any  moment  a 
headlong  plunge  into  the  crazy  torrent  hun 
dreds  of  feet  below.  Horses  discarded  and 
seven  difficult  coolies  hired,  we  began  the  as- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        157 

cent  of  Haramouk.  The  men  were  afraid,  but 
we  were  determined.  They  looked  for  signs 
of  relenting  in  our  faces,  and,  finding  none, 
proceeded  to  mutiny  on  the  spot.  The  tiffin 
basket  wallah  deposited  his  burden  in  the 
shadow  of  an  ancient  temple,  advising  us  to 
have  our  lunch  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing.  I  told  him  to  move  on,  but  he  would 
not.  Finally,  having  exhausted  my  store  of 
eloquence,  argument  and  command,  I  seized 
a  small  twig  and  started  for  him.  He  fled 
like  a  gazelle  into  the  forest,  I  in  full  pursuit, 
but  he  disappeared  and  we  never  saw  him 
again.  The  lesson  was  efficacious,  however, 
and  the  rest  meekly  fell  into  line. 

It  was  a  terrible  climb  !  Four  thousand 
feet  almost  straight  up,  over  slippery  pine- 
needles  which  begrudged  us  a  foothold,  and 
then  over  bleak  stretches  where  shepherds 
guarded  their  flocks  and  herds,  and  refreshed 
us  with  foaming  goat's  milk.  The  pictur 
esque  shepherdesses,  in  their  Turkish  trou 
sers  and  red  blankets,  regarded  us  with  curi 
ous  but  friendly  eyes. 

Wearily  we  turned  in  at  nightfall.  The 
next  day  we  clambered  over  a  rocky  ridge 
which  brought  us  to  the  snows,  where  we 
risked  our  lives  on  slippery  frozen  tracts 
sloping  steeply  to  the  turbulent  river.  Once 


158        A  BLUESTOCKING  IK  INDIA 

a  coolie  slipped  and  fell — as  he  shot  down 
the  declivity  I  thought  he  was  lost,  but  he 
dug  in  his  heels  and  saved  himself,  to  carry 
us  later  across  a  furious  stream  which  poured 
out  of  the  snout  of  a  not  distant  glacier. 
The  icy  boulders  gave  him  but  an  insecure 
foothold,  and  he  dipped  a  half  of  me  into  the 
frigid  waters,  but  a  winter's  wind  and  a  sum 
mer's  sun  soon  froze  and  dried  me  off  as  I 
went  on  my  way  rejoicing. 

That  night  we  pitched  our  tent  upon  a 
tiny  square  of  bare  ground  in  the  midst  of  a 
wilderness  of  snow,  with  the  ice-bound  Gan- 
gagal  in  front,  the  glaciers  and  snows  of 
Haramouk  descending  steeply  to  its  opposite 
shore.  Scores  of  peaks  in  white  desolation 
beetled  against  a  lowering  sky.  On  every 
side  stretched  great  expanses  of  snow,  re 
lieved  only  by  gray  rocks  and  black  caverns 
exposed  on  the  wind-swept  heights.  We 
were  silent,  crushed  with  the  vastness  of  it 
all,  overcome  with  its  terrifying  grandeur. 

It  was  the  tenth  of  June,  and  a  fierce  snow 
storm  began  to  rage.  No  wood  was  obtain 
able,  so  our  dinner  was  cooked  over  a  few 
sticks  brought  from  the  lower  regions  on  the 
coolies'  backs,  and  chota  hazri  made  over 
the  charred  remnants  of  the  same.  Cold  and 
wet  we  crept  into  bed,  while  the  storm  raged 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        159 

without  our  canvas  house  and  thunder  hur 
tled  among  the  crags  and  peaks  above  and 
around. 

But  the  morning !  The  glory  of  it !  With 
the  high  lights,  the  deep  shadows,  the  ser 
rated  peaks,  the  distant  mists,  the  clear  green 
of  the  glaciers,  the  cold  blue  of  the  sky — it 
was  unspeakably,  magnificently  lovely  !  As 
the  day  grew  the  sunlight  created  mists  to 
hang  rainbows  upon,  while  we  trudged  over 
disaster-filled,  trackless  wastes,  scarcely  aware 
of  our  bodies,  so  stimulating  were  the  air  and 
elevation. 

By  noon  the  sun  had  veiled  his  face,  and 
we  ate  our  lunch  with  a  gray  mist  settling 
upon  us,  the  coolies  crouching  about  with 
faces  grim  set  for  the  worst.  The  sound  of  a 
snowball  rolling,  bounding,  to  unseen  depths, 
made  us  dizzy  and  faint.  Once  I  fell,  and 
slid  several  yards  down  a  slope  as  steep  as  a 
roof,  but  saved  myself  by  my  finger  nails. 

Finally  we  tacked  and  zigzagged  up  the 
last  ascent,  which  brought  us  to  the  head  of 
a  pass.  But  it  was  only  to  find  ourselves  face 
to  face  with  an  overhanging  snow-drift  twenty 
feet  high.  However,  our  brave  men  dug  a 
tunnel  for  us,  and  with  ropes  and  tent  poles 
managed  to  land  us  on  the  other  side — out 
of  a  warmish  snow-storm  into  a  freezing, 


160        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  ItfDIA 

piercing  blizzard,  which  penetrated  to  our 
very  marrow.  The  descent  was  over  un- 
tracked  snow.  The  fellows  crawled  and 
stopped,  considered  and  crawled,  zigzag. 
One  fell ;  he  could  not  rise,  so  cut  his  pack 
loose  and  let  it  go.  It  bounded  two- thirds  of 
the  way  to  the  river  and  stopped.  Then  he 
let  himself  go  and  slid  safely  to  a  place  where 
walking  was  possible.  All  followed.  I  sat 
on  a  blanket  behind  a  coolie  and  off  we  flew. 
A  glorious  toboggan  slide,  and  no  one  hurt, 
besides  saving  hours  of  laborious  and  dan 
gerous  walking  !  Arrived  at  the  bottom  we 
looked  up  at  our  perpendicular  track  from  the 
clouds  fifteen  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
It  looked  like  the  path  of  a  narrow  avalanche. 

By  nightfall  we  found  bare  ground  and 
wood,  and  had  our  breakfast  at  7  P.  M. 
A  generous  bakshish  rendered  the  coolies 
happy ;  we  dried  our  clothes  by  a  roaring 
camp-fire,  and  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just  and 
the  weary. 

Eighteen  miles  the  following  day  in  a  pour 
ing  rain  brought  us  to  our  doonga,  sent 
around  to  meet  us  in  Wular  Lake.  A  hot 
bath  and  massage,  and  we  had  not  even  a 
stiff  muscle  to  remind  us  of  our  jaunt. 

Leisurely  we  punted  back  to  Siranagar, 
going  aside  into  the  beautiful  Manasbal  Lake, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        161 

lying  like  a  turquoise  in  its  setting  of  hills. 
We  sat  in  the  long  twilight  watching  the  re 
flections  in  its  crystal  depths,  and  in  the 
morning  lay  flat  on  our  doonga  deck  trailing 
our  hands  in  the  warm  waters,  gathering 
bunches  of  the  lovely  lotus,  and  pulling  up 
lily-pads  by  their  long  rubber  stems. 

En  route  to  Shahapur,  June  29  y  ip — . 

The  dream  of  Paradise  is  ended,  and  work 
and  worry  loom  ahead,  but  the  prospect 
troubles  me  not  at  all,  for  I  am  feeling  well 
and  looking  fat  and  rosy. 

We  left  Siranagar  a  week  ago  with  many 
groanings  within  and  without.  We  had  pro 
cured  a  comfortable  landau  for  the  two  hun 
dred  mile  drive,  and  planned  to  enjoy  our 
selves  in  spite  of  the  heat,  which  was  excess 
ive.  As  we  approached  the  foot  of  the  val 
ley  we  gave  ourselves  up  to  reminiscences  of 
our  climbs,  and  to  taking  farewell  views  of 
the  peaks  which  had  become  dear  to  us, 
though  not  familiar.  Haramouk,  16,900  feet 
high,  dominated  the  scene,  and  though  stand 
ing  twenty  miles  back  from  the  valley,  was 
reflected  in  the  still  waters  by  which  we  were 
driving.  Behind  us,  towards  Siranagar,  was 
the  ridge  which  bounds  the  Sind  Valley,  and 
beyond  that  the  top  of  Mha  Dev.  More  dis- 


162        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  IKDIA 

tant  was  seen  Mount  Kolohoi,  17,800  feet,  its 
twin  sugar-loaf  peaks  enbosoming  vast  snow- 
fields  and  glaciers,  while  on  our  left  the  val 
ley  was  closed  in  by  a  profusion  of  precip 
itous  crags  and  snow-caps  whence  flow  peren 
nial  streams  to  feed  the  great  Jhelum. 

A  wonderful  country,  with  its  unrivalled 
combination  of  rich  plain  and  lofty  crags; 
clear  streams,  torrents  and  broad  lakes  ;  shady 
chenar  groves  and  tangled  pine  forests.  The 
sky-line  is  broken  on  all  sides  by  the  serrated 
edges,  lofty  cones  and  rounded  domes  of  the 
various  snow  peaks.  It  looks  like  the  silvered 
outline  of  some  fairy  city. 

We  strained  our  eyes  for  a  last  glimpse  of 
this  most  beautiful  spot  in  all  the  world,  as 
our  horses  turned  into  the  narrow  gorge  where 
the  Jhelum  begins  her  mad  revellings,  and 
the  road  crawls  tortuously  along  the  sides  of 
precipices. 

By  judiciously  tipping  the  driver  we  per 
suaded  him  into  a  fairly  good  speed,  and 
hoped  to  overlap  one  traveller's  bungalow 
each  day,  thus  reducing  the  trip  to  three  days, 
or  four  at  the  most,  though  we  had  been  as 
sured  that  the  journey  to  Rawalpindi  would 
require  fully  five.  In  the  middle  of  the  first 
afternoon  we  espied  another  landau  ahead  as 
it  rounded  a  jutting  hill,  and  came  up  with  it 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        163 

at  a  place  where  there  had  been  a  land  slip 
and  a  company  of  Kashmiris  were  working 
in  the  road.  Our  first  introduction  to  its  oc 
cupants  was  amusing  if  not  edifying,  for  as  I 
leaned  far  out  of  the  carriage  to  see  the  cause 
of  our  delay,  it  was  just  in  time  to  behold 
a  tall,  slender  Englishman  soundly  boxing 
the  ears  of  a  stout,  squat  native  for  having 
his  cart  across  the  road.  His  companion  was 
lounging  upon  the  seat  indolently  smoking, 
taking  things  in  general  in  a  most  philo 
sophical  spirit.  It  was  easy  to  diagnose  the 
case  of  number  one — tropical  sun  on  the 
nerves  without  a  doubt,  and  I  thought  sym 
pathetically  how  greatly  I  should  have  en 
joyed  a  similar  demonstration  on  my  own  part 
during  the  strenuous  times  at  hot,  hot  Karad. 

We  all  sat  at  the  same  dinner- table  that 
night,  and  we  learned  that  our  fellow-travel 
lers  were  officers  from  Rawalpindi,  who  dis 
couraged  our  plan  of  exploring  Khyber  Pass 
at  this  season  of  the  year  when  it  is  gray 
and  dusty  and  hot  beyond  conception. 

Number  one,  whom  number  two  called 
Captain  Flanagin,  seemed  strangely  familiar 
to  me,  but  English  officers  are  all  so  much 
alike  that  I  concluded  it  was  but  a  passing 
resemblance,  when  he  mentioned  Mhable- 
shwar  in  a  comparison  of  mountain  scenery. 


164        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

That  brought  it  all  back — my  wandering", 
lost,  in  the  jungle,  and  my  rescue  by  a  tall, 
slender,  military-appearing  Englishman.  I 
now  saw  very  plainly  that  this  was  the  same 
one  of  whom  I  had  caught  a  passing  glimpse 
under  the  flickering  light  of  the  veranda 
lamp  nearly  two  years  before.  But  he  did 
not  recognize  me,  and  no  wonder,  consider 
ing  my  dishevelled  and  scratched  condition 
on  that  luckless  night. 

As  we  were  doomed  to  have  an  occasional 
meal  together  in  the  course  of  three  days' 
testing  of  travellers'  bungalows,  we  concluded 
to  make  the  best  of  it,  and  found  the  cap 
tain  most  agreeable  and  witty  company. 
Number  two  essayed  to  converse  with  Miss 
Pentup,  but  it  was  as  if  the  English  and 
American  languages  had  never  enjoyed  even 
a  bowing  acquaintance,  and  they  could  not 
understand  a  word  of  each  other  excepting 
"yes"  and  "no,"  and  one  of  these  they 
always  used  in  reply  to  a  question  which 
expected  the  other. 

We  arrived  at  Rawalpindi  in  the  midst  of 
the  fiercest  dust  storm  I  ever  experienced, 
only  to  gasp  under  a  punkah  for  three  hours 
as  we  waited  for  the  day  to  wane,  the  mer 
cury  standing  at  one  hundred  and  eighteen  de 
grees  in  the  shade. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        165 

As  our  train  did  not  leave  for  some  time, 
we  took  a  carriage  at  sunset  for  a  drive 
through  the  city.  The  political  atmosphere 
at  'Pindi  was  tense  with  excitement,  and  if 
we  had  been  better  informed  as  to  the  day's 
doings  we  should  scarcely  have  ventured  to 
show  our  white  faces  to  the  public,  for  that 
very  morning  an  anti-government  mob  had 
made  a  decided  demonstration  in  which 
American  missionaries  were  the  chief  suffer 
ers.  Smashed  dishes  and  furniture,  smoking 
and  charred  remains  of  household  effects, 
and  broken  windows  told  but  too  vividly  of 
the  visit  of  the  mob,  who  stoned  and  severely 
injured  the  inmates  of  one  bungalow  as 
they  fled  to  a  neighbouring  one.  At  the  latter 
place  they  were  confronted  by  brave  Mr. 
Simpkins,  who,  alone  upon  his  veranda,  gave 
back  bricks  for  stones,  which  he  hurled  so 
effectively  as  finally  to  disperse  the  rioters. 

Entirely  ignorant  of  what  had  occurred, 
we  ordered  our  coachman  to  drive  by  a 
devious,  roundabout  way  to  the  mission 
headquarters.  He  began  to  remonstrate, 
but  we  silenced  him  with  a  glance,  and  with 
a  "  don't  care  "  expression  he  climbed  upon  the 
box.  Ere  long  we  came  up  with  a  howling 
mob,  upon  whose  outskirts  the  driver  stopped, 
and  we  stood  up  to  see  if  we  could  discern 


166        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

the  cause  of  it.  Horrors  !  there  behind  the 
hedge  was  a  weeping,  pleading  ayah,  and  a 
round-eyed,  plump  little  white  child,  with  his 
fists  doubled  up  even  while  his  lips  were 
quivering,  as  he  faced  his  dusky  tormentors, 
who,  with  menace  in  their  attitudes  and  un 
reasoning  rage  in  their  faces,  were  closing 
in  upon  their  helpless  victims.  My  heart  in 
my  throat,  I  ordered  the  coachman  to  drive 
upon  the  crowd  and  through  it  to  the  place 
where  the  child  was,  but  he  sat  like  a  stone. 
I  repeated  the  order  and  he  said,  "  Mem 
Sahib,  it  is  madness,  they  will  kill  you." 
But  I  clinked  some  rupees  in  my  bag,  giving 
him  a  significant  glance,  and  he  lashed  the 
horses.  We  swept  through  the  cursing  mob, 
caught  up  the  babe  and  his  ayah  and  then 
thought  to  escape.  But  it  was  not  to  be  so 
easy.  The  fanatics  were  infuriated  ;  we  were 
surrounded ;  the  driver  could  do  nothing, 
and  really,  Eleanor,  I  scarcely  think  I  would  be 
alive  to  tell  the  tale  if  succour  had  not  been 
at  hand  For  the  Irish  Rifles  had  heard 
that  a  white  child  had  been  slain,  and  were 
coming  down  the  city  in  a  body.  The 
wildest  imagination  could  not  conceive  what 
the  awful  results  would  have  been,  had  the 
report  proved  true. 

All  the  rest  is  like  a  dream.     But  the  mob 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        167 

was  scattered,  and  our  carriage  was  es 
corted  to  the  station  after  we  had  surren 
dered  our  charges  to  the  officer  who  proved 
to  be  no  other  than  Captain  Flanagin.  And, 
do  you  know,  it  was  a  little  American  child 
whom  his  ayah  had  hidden  in  her  own  house 
during  the  disturbances  of  the  morning.  In 
the  afternoon  she  had  been  seen  trying  to 
make  her  way  back  to  the  mission  compound. 

We  had  to  hurry  to  catch  our  train,  which 
we  boarded  with  relief  and  gratitude.  After 
investing  in  a  few  newspapers  we  became 
better  informed  as  to  political  conditions. 
The  whole  Punjab  is  seething.  The  villagers 
in  the  Tindi  district  are  persuaded  that 
government  has  poisoned  the  wells  and 
streams  in  order  to  dispose  of  the  land 
owners,  so  that  it  may  claim  the  land.  Not 
long  since  a  native  government  clerk  was 
seen  drinking  at  a  well,  whereupon  the  cry 
went  up,  "  Government  poisoner,  govern 
ment  poisoner,"  and  the  whole  village  turned 
out  and  gave  the  hapless  fellow  a  severe 
beating.  They  also  insist  that  plague  comes 
from  poisoned  drinking  water  by  the  same 
agency. 

Conditions  are  equally  bad,  if  not  worse,  in 
Lahore,  where  nothing  seems  to  allay  the  ex 
citement  incident  to  the  deportation,  without 


168        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

trial,  of  Lajput  Rai,  who  was  accused  of  stir 
ring  up  sedition,  and  was  swiftly,  silently 
transported  to  Rangoon,  where  he  is  de 
tained  in  the  fort  under  police  surveillance, 
and  is  not  permitted  to  carry  on  any  corre 
spondence  with  the  outside  world. 

The  news  was  received  with  the  wildest 
indignation,  and  protests  from  countless  In 
dian  organizations  have  been  sent  in  to  the 
Viceroy,  demanding  that  the  charges  on 
which  the  Punjab  government  based  its  ac 
tion  be  published  forthwith,  and  an  oppor 
tunity  be  given  Lajput  Rai  to  meet  them. 


ShahapuTy  July, 
After  a  week  of  pouring  rain  the  country  is 
flooded.  You  have  no  idea  how  pretty  it  is 
— the  great  stretches  of  yellow  waters  with 
temples  and  green  trees  rising  out  of  them, 
bamboos  nodding  over  the  ripples,  and  the 
low,  misty  mountains  in  the  distance. 

I  am  very  happy  in  my  new  surroundings  ; 
a  change  of  base  has  ministered  to  my  no 
madic  instincts,  though  it  has  deprived  me  of 
many  professional  opportunities.  The  native 
capital  is  interesting  in  the  extreme,  and  the 
occasions  for  studying  picturesque  oriental 
ism  are  numerous.  The  bazaar  is  a  fasci 
nating  place  in  which  to  linger,  where  auto- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        169 

mobiles,  bicyles,  and  rubber-tired  carriages 
jostle  bullock-carts,  camels  and  elephants  on 
the  road,  while  distant  chimes  from  the  Ma 
harajah's  new  palace  strike  upon  the  ear. 
The  brilliantly  turbaned  throngs  endlessly 
mingle,  separate  and  move  on  in  ever-chang 
ing  masses,  dogs  bark,  children  crawl  under 
your  horses'  heels,  venders  vociferate,  and 
you  shake  your  occidental  self  together  and 
ask  yourself  where  you  are,  anyway. 

In  the  suburbs  are  the  English  and  Amer 
ican  bungalows — not  very  many  of  them,  but 
enough  to  convince  you  that  you  are  not 
utterly  alone  in  a  strange  land.  This  is  the 
social  season,  and  if  our  work  were  not  so 
all  absorbing,  we  might  lead  quite  a  gay  life 
with  the  "At  Homes,"  dinners,  gymkhana 
sports,  and  so  forth.  Last  evening  an  Anglo- 
native  function  took  place  at  the  Residency, 
which  was  rather  devoid  of  meaning  to  me, 
the  title  of  Rao  Sahib  being  conferred  upon 
a  native  gentleman  who  had  been  faithful  to 
his  trust.  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Randal,  repre 
senting  the  Viceroy  and  the  Vicereine,  occu 
pied  a  gold,  satin-covered  seat  upon  a  raised 
dais  carpeted  with  cloth  of  gold,  the  native  civil 
officers  and  guests  were  ranged  at  one  side, 
the  native  military  and  ourselves  at  the  other, 
while  the  English  officers  stood  near  the  dais. 


170        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

It  has  been  my  fate  at  all  the  recent  func 
tions  to  find  myself  tete-a-tete  with  an  officer 
who  has  recently  been  transferred  from  Aden, 
and  is  nearly  demented  from  sojourning  in 
that  terrible,  God-forsaken  spot.  Periodic 
ally  he  rages  of  the  equator,  the  sun,  the 
sand-storms,  the  prickly  heat,  and  all  the 
woes  to  which  flesh  is  heir,  to  all  of  which, 
on  every  occasion,  I  present  a  most  horrified 
and  sympathetic  front.  I  should  have  gone 
mad  there  myself,  and  am  truly  sorry  for 
him,  with  his  handsome,  sad  face  and  melan 
choly  eyes. 

The  officers'  wives  are  always  elegantly 
gowned,  and  a  pretty  Parsi,  wife  of  a  college 
professor,  wears  the  most  exquisite  silken 
saris  I  have  ever  seen,  and  in  the  most 
charming  and  graceful  manner. 

My  work  demands  all  my  time  and  thought. 
I  am  beginning  it  by  opening  a  dispensary 
in  the  heart  of  the  high  caste  district,  with 
the  intent  of  drawing  in  Brahmin  women 
who  are  very  difficult  to  reach.  Aside  from 
dispensary  I  attend  cases  in  the  town  and 
among  our  Christian  community. 

Shahapur,  Aug.,  19 — . 
A  pomegranate  tree  in  front  of  my  window 
is  laden  with  fruit  and  flowers,  suggesting 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        171 

coming  days  of  feasting.  The  Aden-frenzied 
officer  is  still  a  pervasive  presence.  The 
monsoon  weather  has  practically  restored  him 
to  a  normal  state  of  mind,  in  spite  of  which 
fact  he  continues  to  hover  in  my  vicinity. 
We  get  on  famously  together  and  have  no 
difficulty  in  understanding  each  other's  lan 
guage  or  jokes. 

The  country  is  still  restless  from  the  Swade 
shi  movement,  and  the  government  seems  to 
consider  its  position  serious,  if  not  menacing. 
The  attempt  to  locate  the  cause  of  the  trouble 
has  only  brought  to  light  grievances  which 
certainly  demand  a  remedy.  Theories  of 
growing  poverty,  excessive  taxation,  quarrels 
between  Mussulmans  and  Hindus,  the  aloof 
ness  of  the  British,  and  the  natural  animosity 
felt  by  the  Indians  towards  their  conquerors, 
have  all  been  deduced. 

Of  course  deportations  without  trial  have 
added  fuel  to  the  flame,  while  prosecutions 
against  a  seditious  press  continue,  with  the 
idea,  I  suppose,  of  curing  the  disease  by  sup 
pressing  the  symptoms. 

The  latest  sensation  in  the  native  press 
advocates  the  performance  of  peculiar  cere 
monies  at  regular  intervals,  with  the  intention 
of  stimulating  the  lukewarm  to  action.  This 
consists  of  midnight  meetings  of  great  crowds 


172        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

upon  forty  successive  nights,  at  which  times 
they  are  to  sacrifice  one  hundred  and  one 
white  goats  without  blemish,  amid  appropriate 
demonstrations  of  music,  drums,  and  fire 
works.  "  Then,"  says  the  writer,  "  we  will  be 
ready  to  sacrifice  not  white  goats,  but  white 
folks." 

The  boycotters  are  aided  and  abetted  by 
the  native  government  clerks  on  the  railroads 
and  steamers,  and  are  thus  empowered  to  do 
a  great  deal  of  damage  to  foreign  goods  even 
before  they  have  reached  their  destination. 

One  of  the  particular  grievances  set  forth 
at  the  last  meeting  of  the  Indian  National 
Congress  is  the  impoverishment  of  the  people 
of  India  through  the  salaries  and  pensions 
paid  to  the  English  administrators  of  the 
government,  amounting,  it  seems,  to  about 
sixty-seven  million  dollars  annually.  They 
think  the  government  positions  should  be 
filled  by  Indians,  who  can  live  on  one-third 
or  less  the  salary  of  an  Englishman. 

Shahapur,  Sept,,  19 — . 
The  latter  rains  are  on,  and  the  weather  is 
simply  unendurable.  We  swelter  in  a  terrible 
heat,  which  puts  Tophet  in  the  shade  until 
three  o'clock,  when  a  tremendous  storm 
comes  up  which  threatens  to  unroof  all  the 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        173 

houses,  the  water  comes  down  in  floods,  and 
we  keep  ourselves  busy  placing  buckets 
around  under  the  leakages. 

The  past  few  days  have  been  reeking  with 
native  religious  festivals,  but  to-day  all  is 
quiet,  so  I  judge  the  poor  gods  have  been 
feted  to  death.  What  with  their  baths, 
feasts,  and  processions,  you  would  think  the 
people  might  at  last  be  able  to  elicit  some 
manifestation  of  favour,  but  plague  and  allied 
ills  proceed  as  usual. 

My  work  has  grown  until  it  has  assumed 
tremendous  proportions,  and  my  compulsory 
"  year  of  rest  "  in  Shahapur  has  become  as 
strenuous  as  any  I  have  ever  experienced. 

Plague  is  terrible.  Eleven  thousand  deaths 
per  day  from  that  alone  throughout  India  ! 
Every  morning  on  my  way  to  the  town  I 
meet  men  bearing  corpses  upon  biers,  or  see 
families  preparing  their  dead  for  the  last 
rites,  upon  their  front  door-steps,  bathing  and 
wrapping  them  in  winding  sheets,  while  the 
women  wail  and  beat  their  breasts,  and  strike 
their  foreheads  against  the  rough  stones  of 
the  road.  And  every  evening  at  twilight  I 
can  count  fifteen  or  more  places  upon  the 
river  bank  where  the  smoke  is  curling  sky 
ward,  indicating  that  many  deaths  in  our  one 
little  town.  It  is  like  a  doomed  city,  and  the 


174        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

people  apathetically  receive  their  fate  from 
the  hands  of  the  unpropitiated  gods. 

Day  after  day  they  bring  their  sick  ones 
bodily  and  lay  them  at  my  feet  upon  the  dis 
pensary  floor,  and  day  after  day  I  invade 
their  dirty  huts  and  haul  over  the  cases  that 
are  lying  there  burning  up  with  fever,  wild 
with  delirium,  or  torpid  with  the  overwhelm 
ing  poison  which  their  systems  have  at  last 
ceased  to  fight. 

Sometimes  they  recover  and  sometimes 
they  do  not.  None  of  the  conditions  are 
favourable,  for,  to  a  man,  they  refuse  to  go  to 
the  state  segregation  hospital,  where  they 
would  at  least  have  light  and  air.  Poor, 
ignorant  souls,  so  helpless  in  their  ignorance, 
they  are  deathly  afraid  of  inoculation,  which 
is  their  only  hope,  victims  of  a  cruel  fate  1 
Or  is  it  the  just  workings  of  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect? 

In  spite  of  the  awful  sadness  and  gloom, 
however,  the  stream  of  life  hurries  on  ;  those 
upon  whom  the  heavy  hand  of  grief  has  not 
yet  fallen  follow  in  the  usual  routine,  and 
death  is  mocked  by  births  and  the  festive 
marriage  ceremonies  of  the  higher  castes. 

A  day  or  two  ago  we  were  bidden  to  such 
a  feast,  and  it  was  scarcely  thinkable  that 
sorrow  and  death  were  lurking  in  the  dark 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        175 

doorways  hidden  by  the  brilliant  throng" 
among  which  we  drove.  Through  the  nar 
row,  winding  streets  of  the  native  bazaar, 
amid  a  confusion  of  shouts,  camel-carts,  scar 
let-coated  suwars  mounted  on  prancing 
horses,  to  the  Old  Palace  enclosure,  where 
elephants  caparisoned  in  cloth  of  gold,  and 
sombre  khaki-clad  sepoys  guarded  the  main 
entrance,  we  hastened,  in  our  rattle-trap  ton 
gas,  barouches  and  open  landaus.  At  the 
great  door  we  were  set  down,  and  salaam- 
proficient  guides  received  and  led  us  to  the 
precincts  beyond.  Within  were  soft  lights 
flickering  behind  tinted  glass,  graceful  palms 
and  trailing  vines,  and  seated  on  the  floor 
was  a  double  row  of  priests  waiting  to  per 
form  their  important  function.  The  nobility 
and  officers  of  state  were  there,  besides  the 
English  and  Americans  of  the  place. 

The  Maharajah's  arrival  was  announced 
by  loyal  shouts  and  "  God  save  the  King " 
from  the  brass  band.  He  entered  with 
stately  tread,  recognized  the  guests  with 
kingly  dignity,  and  set  himself  down  beside 
his  handsome  little  sons — gorgeous  in  coats 
of  brocaded  silk,  their  voluminous  turbans 
threaded  and  wrought  with  gold,  and  ropes 
of  pearls  about  their  youthful  necks. 

Then  came  the  brides — six  of  them,  stretch- 


176        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

ing  out  dainty,  bejewelled  feet  timidly,  grop 
ingly,  for  their  heads  were  muffled,  one  end 
of  their  long  graceful  garment  being  held 
over  the  face  by  a  gilded  crown,  whose  span 
gles  drooped  over  the  shoulders.  Through 
enveloping  robes  could  be  descried  diminu 
tive  figures,  none  more  than  six  years  old, 
while  one — a  mere  baby — was  carried  in  the 
arms  of  her  nurse.  Each  bride  was  placed 
in  a  tiny  alcove  to  await  the  coming  of  her 
bridegroom,  who  in  each  case  was  tall,  ma 
tured,  moustached,  carrying  on  his  arm  a 
rich  garment  for  his  bride.  Then  a  curtain 
was  held  between  them,  and  while  the  bride 
groom  gazed  over  it  at  the  shrinking  child 
he  was  taking  for  a  wife,  the  priests  chanted 
the  bans,  coloured  rice  was  thrown,  the  guests 
were  garlanded,  perfumed,  and  anointed  with 
sandal-wood  oil,  and  all  was  over.  But  it 
was  only  the  beginning  for  the  brides. 

From  the  galleries  above  peered  down  the 
women — dark-eyed,  timid,  smiling.  I  won 
der  if  they  were  glad  for  the  little  veiled  girls 
sitting  in  their  alcoves?  I  wonder  if  their 
own  experiences  had  taught  them  anything 
of  happiness  for  child  wives,  or  did  they  look 
back  upon  the  burdens  assumed  at  the  ten 
der  age  of  twelve — the  burdens  of  wifehood 
— with  a  shudder  ? 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        177 

I  wonder  if  these  little  girls  will  grow  up 
to  love — they  will  certainly  fear — these  hus- 
hands  not  of  their  own  choosing?  Behind 
the  purdah  what  bitternesses,  what  heart 
aches,  what  longings !  What  sufferings 
screened  from  the  world,  how  seldom  happi 
ness  or  contentment ! 

Shahapur,  Oct.,  19 — . 
Dear  Eleanor : 

This  is  the  month  in  which  you  are 
revelling  in  glorious  autumn  weather — the 
trees  are  all  golden  and  brown,  the  leaves 
rustling  beneath  your  feet  as  you  stroll  un 
der  a  sky  which  is  not  brassy,  and  breezes 
which  do  not  burn  play  with  the  tendrils  of 
your  hair.  Winter  will  soon  be  upon  you, 
and  how  jolly  cool  you  will  be. 

We  are  simply  baking  alive !  Even  at 
eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  I 
walk  into  the  town,  the  heat  is  simply 
terrible. 

I  cannot  imagine  what  is  wrong  with  me. 
The  sun  and  glare  and  temperature  do  not 
seem  to  affect  the  other  missionaries,  and 
their  endurance  is  something  marvellous.  It 
must  be  that  I  have  not  really  recuperated 
from  that  illness,  though  the  cold  and  snows 
of  the  mountains  and  the  delightful  monsoon 


178        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

weather  here,  persuaded  me  that  my  consti 
tution  was  of  cast-iron  as  before. 

Every  day  I  work  against  time  at  the  dis 
pensary,  and  without  my  breakfast,  for  it  is 
impossible  to  close  the  doors  before  one 
o'clock,  and  then  there  is  the  mile  of  burning 
sun  to  the  bungalow,  and  the  rest  of  the  day 
filled  with  sick  Christians  and  private  cases 
in  town. 

At  present  our  native  pastor,  one  of  the 
sweetest-natured  men  I  ever  knew,  is  very 
ill.  I  call  in  to  see  him  twice  a  day,  and  he 
turns  his  face  gratefully  up  to  me  and  whis 
pers  that  my  visits  are  like  the  visits  of  an 
angel.  I  can  scarcely  restrain  my  tears,  for 
I  am  so  weak  myself  that  any  little  sign  of 
appreciation  like  that  breaks  me  all  up. 

In  the  afternoons  the  daughter  of  one  of 
the  King's  chief  councilmen  comes  here  for 
private  treatment.  She  is  a  sweet  womanly 
girl,  but  quite  uneducated,  though  her  father 
is  a  brilliant  Brahmin  of  great  wealth  and 
distinction,  who  speaks  English  fluently  and 
is  a  most  fascinating  conversationalist.  He 
says  that  he  has  not  educated  his  daughters 
lest  their  husbands  object,  and  as  they  be 
come  factors  in  the  case  during  their  wives' 
infancy,  I  suppose  they  are  the  ones  to  take 
the  initiative. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        179 

But  this  country  will  never  achieve  free 
dom  or  anything  else  desirable  until  she 
emancipates  her  women.  With  little,  imma 
ture  girls  the  mothers  of  the  nation,  wives  un 
educated  and  untrained,  widows  condemned 
to  a  life  of  drudgery  or  shame  and  prohibited 
from  respectable  remarriage,  what  can  be 
expected?  The  whole  scheme  of  life  is  un 
natural  and  base.  The  whole  country  is 
physically,  socially,  morally,  spiritually  cor 
rupt.  And  yet  the  men  are  straining  after 
liberty  and  presumably  sacrificing  property 
and  lives  therefor,  while  the  Social  Congress 
sits  in  Calcutta  ostensibly  to  inspire  social 
reform  and  progress,  but  actually  winking  at 
the  abuses  of  women,  and  passing  half-hearted 
resolutions  for  the  alleviation  of  their  lot, 
which  could  not  warm  up  a  fly  to  the  subject. 

I  suppose,  however,  we  ought  to  be  thank 
ful  that  there  is  even  such  a  conference  in 
existence. 

The  Maharajah's  mother  is  another  case 
in  point.  I  go  out  to  see  her  every  day  in 
the  royal  automobile.  Even  now  she  is  a 
young  woman,  and  might  have  been  a  power 
for  good  had  her  proper  training  been  insti 
tuted  instead  of,  and  at  the  time,  that  matri 
mony  was  thrust  upon  her.  She  is  very 
quick  to  learn  and  possesses  a  progressive 


180        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

mind,  yet  custom  compels  her  to  while  away 
her  days  secluded  in  her  huge  apartments, 
gossiping  and  intriguing  for  want  of  a  better 
pastime.  At  the  time  of  my  first  visit  she 
surprised  me  by  producing  her  own  clinical 
thermometer,  by  displaying  an  English  watch, 
and  by  occupying  an  elaborate  brass  bed 
with  mosquito-net  curtains,  such  as  we  occi 
dentals  use. 

Her  Highness  assumes  to  be  very  relig 
ious,  and  though  her  many  fast  days  inter 
fere  seriously  with  the  intake  of  medicines,  I 
continue  my  visits  with  the  expectation  of 
securing  psychological,  and — I  hope  and 
pray — moral  and  spiritual  effects. 

Before  each  call  I  have  to  tone  myself  up 
with  a  stiff  dose  of  strychnia,  for  what  can  a 
fagged  and  spiritless  practitioner  expect  to 
accomplish  with  hysterical  women  if  she  her 
self  be  on  the  verge  of  fainting  and  tears  ? 

Shahapur,  Nov.,  fp — . 
This  morning  as  I  turned  into  the  lane 
upon  which  the  dispensary  faces,  I  was 
greeted  with  something  new  to  me  in  the 
line  of  worship.  It  was  a  narrow  street  at 
best,  with  scarcely  room  enough  between  the 
rows  of  blue  and  yellow  houses  for  a  two- 
wheeled  cart  to  pass.  This  morning  it  was 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        181 

filled  with  crowds  of  men  assembled  for  a 
religious  celebration.  At  each  doorway  were 
planted  flags  whose  staffs  were  festooned 
with  branches  of  green,  while  the  house  of 
the  festival  was  gay  with  coloured  banners 
and  paper  ornaments.  Weird  music  came 
from  within,  and  gorgeously  beturbaned 
youths  lounged  upon  the  hanging  balcony. 

The  affair  began  with  the  lining  up  in 
pairs  of  a  double  row  of  one  hundred  men, 
each  provided  with  cymbals  and  bells.  The 
leader  gave  the  signal,  there  was  a  clash  of 
instruments  and  the  dance  was  started — 
partners  salaaming  to  each  other,  striking 
their  instruments,  springing  forward,  balan 
cing  back,  bowing  and  clashing  the  cymbals 
again,  until  the  street  was  a  very  Bedlam  for 
noise. 

Then  came  the  triumphal  march.  In  pairs, 
clashing,  surging,  swaying,  balancing  they 
went,  followed  by  the  palanquin  borne  of 
four,  within  whose  red  and  gold  splendour 
was — not  so  base  a  thing  as  an  idol — but  a 
framed  photograph  of  Tukaram,  an  ancient 
Marathi  poet,  whose  deification  had  been 
accomplished  some  years  after  his  demise. 
Before  the  picture  were  votive  offerings,  and 
following  the  palanquin  a  few  soberly  clad 
women  carried  roses  and  a  silver  jar  of  spices. 


182        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

And  so  they  passed  out  of  the  narrow  street 
— a  spectacle  of  the  religion  of  the  high- 
minded  Brahmins — into  the  open  spaces  be 
yond,  while  I  turned  in  at  my  Own  door  to 
attend  to  the  manifold  wants  of  my  medley 
of  patients. 

I  have  been  having  a  taste  of  cold  weather 
lately  right  here  in  the  midst  of  this  hades, 
for  Mr.  G.  P.  (hero  of  the  chase)  was  provi 
dentially  led  to  flee  with  his  family  into  the 
fastnesses  of  the  mountains  in  order  to  escape 
plague,  and  there,  in  cool  solitude,  he  occu 
pies  one  of  the  Maharajah's  hunting  lodges 
in  the  midst  of  a  vast  forest  and  hunting 
preserve.  Well,  he  jumped  out  of  the  fry 
ing-pan  into  the  fire,  for  though  he  escaped 
plague,  he  ran  into  other  divers  and  interest 
ing  diseases,  and  his  young  flock  is  now  in 
the  toils  of  typhoid,  malaria,  and  pneumonia, 
and  I  have  to  treat  them  from  a  distance  of 
forty  miles.  That  is  just  where  the  provi 
dence  part  comes  in,  however,  and  I  am 
thriving  on  it  tremendously.  His  Highness 
has  a  weakness  for  G.  P.,  and  has  placed  the 
half  of  his  kingdom  at  his  disposal,  and  his 
automobile  at  mine.  I  start  at  4  P.  M.  to 
slip  up  and  into  the  golden  west,  which  is  a 
hot  and  dry  experience,  but  the  return  journey 
is  a  perfect  delight,  when,  under  the  twinkling 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        183 

stars  or  the  silvery  moon,  we  glide  down  the 
mountainside,  skirting  abrupt  descents,  or 
turning  quick  curves,  creating  a  cold  breeze 
by  our  speed  through  the  chillsome  night. 
The  chauffeur  is  a  dear  little  fellow  who  un 
derstands  his  business  thoroughly,  and  prides 
himself  upon  his  English.  Every  day  he 
says,  "Sir,  will  Your  Honour  drive?"  and  I 
always  reply  that  I  dislike  risking  his  life  by 
my  lack  of  skill,  but  he  invariably  reassures  me 
to  the  effect  that  any  pleasure  to  me  would 
be  the  acme  of  joy  to  him,  so  I  drive  and  am 
becoming  quite  an  expert. 

In  spite  of  my  work,  I  get  a  few  minutes 
now  and  then  for  social  relaxation.  Sporting 
contests  have  been  on  this  month,  and  the 
water  polo  was  particularly  funny.  One 
evening  an  entertainment  was  held  in  a  large 
tent  where  the  native  infantry  displayed  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  feats  with  fire  and 
scimiters  and  dirks,  a  perfect  nightmare  of 
suggestion  as  to  their  possibilities  if  let  loose 
upon  the  community  without  English  control. 

My  Aden  friend  has  departed — transferred 
to  another  post.  I  cannot  recount  to  you  the 
details  of  our  last  meeting — "  parting  is  such 
sweet  sorrow  "  !  He  cannot  bear  the  thought 
of  my  terrible  overwork,  and  curses  missions 
as  a  besotted  or  even  devilish  institution. 


184        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

But  I  insist  that  my  life  out  here  is  no  more 
unnatural  than  his,  and  that  his  present  atti 
tude  of  mind  in  regard  to  me  is  merely  a 
symptom  of  the  forced  conditions  under  which 
we  live.  You  see  I  am  the  only  woman  in 
the  station  who  can  lay  even  a  remote  claim 
to  youth.  I  am  in  manner  altogether  too  friv 
olous  for  my  profession,  and  by  nature  very 
sympathetic,  so  it  is  not  difficult  to  arrive  at 
the  etiology,  diagnosis  and  prognosis  in  his 
case — I  prognose  a  speedy  healing  of  his 
lacerated  heart 

I  expect  you  are  altogether  weary  of  news 
incident  to  plague,  but  I  would  not  be  a  faith 
ful  chronicler  if  I  neglected  to  tell  you  of  our 
latest  tribulation  along  that  line. 

One  of  the  native  Christian  women  diso 
beyed  all  orders  by  visiting  a  relative  who 
was  down  with  the  disease,  contracted  it  her 
self  and  developed  all  the  symptoms  right 
here  in  our  midst,  without  giving  a  sign  un 
til  her  suffering  forced  her  to  give  up  and 
send  for  me.  We  were  in  a  dilemma.  I  ad 
vised  taking  her  at  once  to  the  state  segre 
gation  hospital,  but  the  natives  have  a  hor 
ror  of  it,  and  the  missionaries  did  not  like  to 
insist,  so  we  built  a  little  hut  for  her  in  the 
corner  of  the  compound,  with  a  prospect  of 
having  to  do  all  the  nursing  ourselves. 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        185 

We  had,  of  course,  to  smother  the  room 
which  she  had  occupied  in  fire  and  smoke  to 
kill  off  infected  fleas,  which,  you  know,  are 
the  conveyers  of  the  disease,  and  then  unroof 
it  to  the  light  and  air. 

When  we  were  ready  to  carry  the  patient 
to  her  new  quarters,  the  whole  place  seemed 
deserted,  so  fearful  were  the  natives,  and  I 
had  to  coerce  my  servant  and  another  man 
into  carrying  two  corners,  while  dear,  brave 
Miss  Porter  and  I  took  the  others.  She  was 
an  awful  weight,  and  it  was  a  terrible  strain 
from  which  both  Miss  Porter  and  I  suffered 
acutely  afterwards. 

Adversities  are  not,  however,  without  their 
compensations,  and  this  one  served  to  dis 
cover  to  us  a  real  hero  in  the  person  of 
Gopalrao,  one  of  the  teachers  in  the  high 
school.  He  is  a  man  with  a  history,  having 
been  a  convert  from  the  Brahmin  caste,  the 
proudest  of  the  proud,  who  esteemed  himself 
worthy  to  be  worshipped,  nor  disdained  to 
sell  for  goodly  sums  the  water  in  which  his 
feet  had  been  laved  that  a  low  caste  man 
might  drink  it,  and  progress  a  step  in  the 
path  of  salvation  thereby. 

His  conversion  to  Christianity  was  attended 
by  great  persecutions  on  the  part  of  his  rela 
tives  and  friends,  and  he  was  finally  cast  out, 


186        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

penniless  and  homeless,  to  shift  for  himself. 
He  had  a  severe  testing  time  with  two  years 
in  prison,  but  came  out  purified  as  by  fire. 

Now  he  comes  forth  like  an  angel  of  mercy 
and  offers  to  do  all  the  night  nursing  for  us. 
His  help  has  meant  everything.  The  unsel 
fishness  of  his  devotion,  the  tenderness  and 
efficiency  of  his  care,  his  scorn  of  danger,  his 
sacrifices,  have  shown  us  the  quality  of  some 
of  our  Indian  Christians. 

The  political  horizon  has  not  cleared  any 
— quite  the  contrary,  in  fact.  The  recent 
passage  of  the  Seditious  Meeting's  bill  was 
met  with  a  storm  of  indignation.  The  gov 
ernment  is  accused  of  imputing  disloyalty  to 
the  masses  of  the  Indian  people,  who,  never 
theless,  are  watching  for  any  sign  of  weak 
ness  or  fear,  ready  to  pounce  upon  it  as  their 
opportunity.  They  ask  if  the  vapourings  of 
a  few  agitators  are  taken  as  evidences  of 
dangerous  sedition,  seemingly  expecting  the 
government  to  ignore  the  riots,  gratuitous 
insults  to  Europeans,  the  state  of  the  Pun 
jab,  the  daily  story  from  Eastern  Bengal  of 
assault,  looting,  boycotting  and  general  law 
lessness. 

The  worst  passions  of  racial  feeling  have 
been  inflamed  and  the  loyalty  of  the  In 
dian  army  has  been  tampered  with,  while 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        187 

the  seeds  of  sedition  have  been  planted 
even  among  the  hill-tribes  and  those  of  the 
most  remote  frontiers. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  all  this  trouble  is 
the  beginning  of  a  new  order  of  things,  and 
the  spread  of  a  national  feeling — of  a 
revolt  of  the  East  against  the  West.  We 
see  it  everywhere  in  the  changed  attitude  of 
the  natives  towards  us,  in  the  new  independ 
ence  of  our  servants.  But  there  is  one  thing 
which  must  never  be  forgotten  for  a  single 
moment,  and  that  is  that  the  only  thing  the 
Oriental  respects  is  power,  and  the  govern 
ment  will  fall  when  it  is  no  longer  strong. 
At  the  same  time  it  must  be  prepared  to 
meet  and  assist  such  new  aspirations  as  are 
just  and  right  among  the  people,  to  recog 
nize  the  change  which  is  passing  over  the 
land,  and  to  understand  the  signs  of  the 
times. 

Shahapur,  Christmas  Day,  19 — . 
My  Own  : 

Flat  on  my  back  again,  but  no  amount 
of  illness  shall  prevent  my  celebrating  Christ 
mas  by  writing  to  the  joy  of  my  heart.  I 
have  known  that  something  must  go  to 
smash  for  some  time  past,  but  was  deter 
mined  it  should  not  be  my  work,  and  so  it 


188        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

had  to  be  my  poor  foolish  self,  which  imag 
ined  it  could  toil  on  and  on  in  defiance  of  all 
the  laws  of  nature  and  of  common  sense, 
and  not  pay  the  penalty.  Why  such  penalty 
was  not  plague  or  smallpox  or  cholera  I  do 
not  know,  but  in  my  ignorance  I  am  pro 
foundly  thankful.  Why  it  is  grippe  I  do 
not  know,  for  though  I  have  been  treating 
cases  of  it  galore,  they  have  not  been  any 
more  numerous  than  the  first-mentioned. 
The  last  few  days  I  kept  myself  going  by 
sheer  will  power,  and  when  at  last  I  did  keel 
ever  it  was  a  complete  collapse.  It  has 
seemed  to  seize  me  in  all  its  phases,  but  the 
worst  phase  is  the  nervous,  and  never  a  wink 
of  sleep  do  I  obtain  without  a  soporific. 

But  enough  of  my  aches  and  pains,  for 
my  window  frames  a  picture  to  stir  the  po 
etic  imagination.  These  cloudy  days  ren 
der  the  landscape  effects  perfectly  entrancing. 
In  the  distance  I  can  see  the  turrets  of  the 
Maharajah's  new  palace  against  the  purple 
rim  of  the  hills,  whose  changing  lights  and 
shadows  indicate  the  flight  of  fleecy  clouds. 

I  am  happy  in  a  weak  way,  for  my  stock 
ing — hung  in  a  convenient  place  for  Santa — 
was  full  to  bursting  this  morning,  and  the 
day  has  been  full  of  the  evidences  of  thought- 
fulness  of  these  sweet  and  blessed  comrades 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        189 

of  mine  in  exile,  who,  in  the  rush  and  over 
work  of  their  preternaturally  busy  lives,  find 
time  to  think  of  me,  to  stop  with  a  word  of 
love,  to  turn  back  with  a  smile  of  encourage 
ment.  Greetings  have  also  come  from  my 
English  friends,  and  mounted  suwars  have 
brought  the  cards  of  the  King  and  his 
council. 

All  that  is  lacking  is  thee— and  a  home 
made  mince  pie. 

But  the  pall  which  envelopes  this  land 
cannot  be  shut  out  by  the  most  cheerful  res 
olutions.  The  very  day  I  keeled  over, 
Gopalrao's  little  daughter — the  sweetest,  bon 
niest  small  tot  of  four  years,  with  the  fattest 
dimplingest  face,  and  the  biggest,  blackest, 
merriest  eyes — came  down  with  plague  in 
its  most  violent  form.  I  was  not  permitted 
to  know  anything  about  it,  for  they  all 
thought  that  I  was  going  to  shuffle  off  this 
mortal  coil  without  further  notice.  Had  I 
known,  I  should  certainly  have  risen  up  in 
the  strength  of  my  will  to  go  to  poor  Gopal 
rao's  succour. 

He,  poor  man,  without  a  murmur,  lifted 
his  dear  little  Prita — the  name  means  love — 
in  his  arms,  and  carried  her  to  the  state 
hospital,  where  he  never  left  her  day  or 
night,  nor  scarcely  let  her  out  of  his  arms 


190        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

until  the  end.  Then,  in  the  early  gray  of 
one  morning,  he  saw  that  she  was  going, 
and  pressed  her  shrunken  little  form  to  him 
with  a  bitter  cry. 

Another  little  mound  in  the  Christian  cem 
etery,  in  the  midst  of  a  heathen  land,  stands 
as  a  mute  witness  to  the  heroism  and  sacri 
fice  of  one  of  God's  noblemen,  who  counted 
not  his  own  life  dear,  nor  his  love,  if  he 
might  but  serve.  And  how  he  has  served  in 
these  awful  plague-stricken  times  1 

After  the  funeral  I  sent  for  him,  and  oh, 
Eleanor !  the  drawn,  haggard  look  of  his  face, 
the  strain  of  his  tired  eyes,  the  tenseness  of 
his  set  lips.  I  could  not  bear  it,  and  just 
turned  over  on  my  pillow  and  burst  into  tears. 
I  was  dreadfully  ashamed,  for  we  never  per 
mit  the  natives  to  see  us  other  than  calm  and 
smiling,  but  perhaps  not  otherwise  would  he 
have  understood  the  depth  of  my  sympathy, 
for  when  I  finally  looked  up,  his  face  was 
shining  and  his  eyes  dim. 

Oh,  I  tell  you  it  is  love  of  God  and  nothing 
else  that  is  going  to  lift  up  this  people  and 
make  and  save  this  nation. 

As  for  the  nation's  political  aspirations  and 
struggles,  I  am  weary,  weary,  weary  of  them, 
My  first  enthusiasm,  a  natural  consequence 
of  my  republican  principles,  and  my  inherent 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        191 

tendency  to  champion  the  cause  of  the  fellow 
that  is  down,  almost  ran  away  with  me.  But 
the  methods  employed,  the  lack  of  real 
patriotism  or  anything  but  selfishness  on  the 
part  of  so  many  of  the  leaders,  fill  one  with 
dismay  and  discouragement.  Where  any  real 
initiative  is  wanting,  they  are  conspicuously 
absent.  They  are  slow  to  step  in  where  capi 
tal  and  cooperation,  enterprise  and  specula 
tion  are  needed.  They  commenced  their 
campaign  at  the  wrong  end.  Without  level 
ling  their  own  differences,  or  without  even 
constructing  a  common  platform,  and  still 
finding  pleasure  in  lording  it  over  tens  of 
millions  of  pariah  slaves,  still  denying  God's 
light  and  air  to  their  wives  and  daughters — 
you  can  see  how  absurd  it  is  for  them  to 
seek  the  reins  of  self-government. 

Even  in  municipal  affairs  they  are  swayed 
by  caste  prejudice  and  private  matters  more 
often  than  by  a  sense  of  public  duty.  If  the 
administration  were  transferred  to  natives  as 
demanded  by  the  National  Congress,  there 
is  little  doubt  that  they  would  soon  be  tear 
ing  at  each  other's  throats  to  gain  predomi 
nance  for  their  respective  castes.  As  for  the 
peasants,  they  do  not  even  know  the  word 
patriotism ;  they  exhibit  a  dull  indifference 
as  to  who  rules  them,  only  so  they  be  suffered 


192        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

to  plough  their  fields  in  peace.  But  whether 
they  know  it  or  not,  they  never  before  pos 
sessed  any  legal  status,  for  they  were  despised 
and  ravaged  without  mercy  until  the  advent 
of  the  British. 

To  govern  men  it  is  necessary  to  get  into 
their  skins,  as  it  has  been  aptly  said,  and  to 
try  to  realize  their  feelings. 

Some  say  the  English  ought  to  walk  out  of 
India  and  leave  it,  and  that  the  Indians  could 
manage  their  own  affairs,  but  I  shudder  to 
think  of  the  chaos  which  would  follow  such 
an  act. 

The  government  has  seemed  to  shut  its 
eyes  to  the  awakening  of  the  East,  but  it 
may  be  that  the  changes  which  it  plans  will 
be  the  beginning  of  a  gradual  reform  that 
will  bring  India  autonomy  as  rapidly  as  she 
is  able  to  bear  it.  These  are  the  institutions 
of  an  advisory  council  of  notable  Indians  ; 
the  enlargement  of  the  legislative  councils  ; 
the  appointment  of  one  or  two  Indians  to 
the  council  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for 
India,  and  the  appointment  of  a  commission 
to  devise  a  scheme  of  decentralization  in  the 
administration. 

These  proposals  are  naturally  received 
with  scorn  by  the  extremists,  who  declare 
them  to  be  but  fresh  fetters  to  bind  the  Indian 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        193 

people  to  the  chariot  of  England's  imperial 
ambition. 

Pishvi,  Jan.,  19 — . 

All  my  nomadic  instincts  are  revelling 
in  the  blue  canopy  of  the  sky,  the  hills  and 
vales,  and  our  little  tent,  nestling  in  the  shade 
of  a  huge  banyan  tree  which  is  like  a  dimin 
utive  forest  with  its  multitudinous  trunks 
and  hanging  roots. 

I  am  out  for  my  health.  Rest  is  an  im 
possibility  in  Shahapur,  where  insistent  pa 
tients  called  me  out  of  bed  when  my  fever 
was  one  hundred  and  two  degrees,  and  I  had 
no  opportunity  to  crawl  in  again  except  at 
night,  though  I  was  as  weak  as  a  baby.  The 
fever  still  persists,  likewise  the  weakness, 
hence  the  out-of-door  life  among  these 
picturesque  foot-hills. 

As  for  rest,  my  flesh  is  willing,  but  the 
spirit  is  weak,  and  with  my  old  ambition 
stimulated  by  the  occasion  and  a  strange 
zeal  to  preach,  I  start  out  early  in  the  morn 
ing  with  the  others  for  a  village  three,  four, 
or  five  miles  away,  where  we  give  our  mes 
sage.  In  the  afternoon  I  hold  dispensary  at 
the  tent.  One  of  the  first  villages  we  visited 
gave  us  a  rather  inhospitable  reception,  for 
we  permitted  one  of  the  Bible-women  to  talk 


194        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

first,  and  she  very  undiplomatically  fell  upon 
their  idols  without  ado.  We  were  literally 
chased  out  of  the  town,  but  learned  wisdom 
by  the  experience,  and  it  has  not  been  re 
peated. 

I  must  tell  you  about  Soondri,  the  little 
girl  whom,  you  will  remember,  we  rescued 
from  her  brutal  husband.  She  has  developed 
wonderfully  in  school,  and  I  have  her  with 
me  now  as  my  little  assistant.  She  has  en 
joyed  every  moment  from  the  time  when  she 
"  sat  like  a  lady  "  in  the  two-horse  tonga  to 
drive  to  our  camping-place,  up  to  the  pres 
ent.  Yesterday  morning,  as  we  emerged 
from  our  respective  tents  at  dawn,  she  ap 
proached,  saying  "  Good-night "  beamingly, 
and  then  hung  her  head  at  my  amused  laugh 
and  murmured  "  Good-morning,  Missie,  I 
shall  never  learn."  I  cheered  her  up,  talk 
ing  about  lessons  and  how  much  that  day 
would  see  us  accomplish  in  English  and 
arithmetic. 

I  have  been  experimenting  with  the  child, 
having  her  sit  beside  me  during  dispensary 
hours  to  tell  a  Bible  story  to  the  waiting 
crowds,  or  to  speak  to  the  groups  which 
gather  about  us  in  the  near-by  towns.  To 
introduce  a  subject  and  my  young  compan 
ion,  and  then  to  make  the  points  and  empha- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        195 

size  them  at  the  close  of  her  animated  ad 
dress,  is  all  that  is  necessary,  for  the  people, 
watching  her  glowing  face  and  shining  eyes, 
listen  in  perfect  silence,  and  wonder  at  her 
girlish  treble  voice,  rising  and  rising  in  its 
earnestness. 

So  this  day  was  to  be  hers.  As  we  began 
our  climb  she  said  exultantly,  "  Abraham- 
like,  we  the  difficult  hills  choose,  while  the 
lady  of  the  tent  and  organ  (Miss  Porter)  and 
her  girl,  Lot-like,  the  fertile  plains  take." 
When,  breathless,  we  stopped  to  rest,  the 
sun  had  risen  over  the  opposite  range  of 
hills,  touching  with  high  lights  the  promi 
nences  of  the  landscape,  showing  the  sleepy 
valley  terraced  and  brilliant  with  the  waving 
sugar-cane,  and  burnishing  the  silver  line  of 
the  winding  river,  but  leaving  our  tent  cool 
and  white  under  the  shadow  of  the  banyan 
tree. 

As  the  young  day  grew  we  skirted  steep 
precipices  to  the  music  of  falling  water,  toil 
ing  ever  upward  towards  the  village  on  the 
crown  of  the  hill,  which  was  our  objective 
point.  As  we  approached  it  we  sat  down  to 
rest  and  pray  that  God  would  use  us  for  His 
honour  that  day,  and  let  His  Spirit  work  in 
us  and  in  the  people  to  whom  we  were 
going. 


196        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

And  how  they  listened  !  The  whole  vil 
lage  came  out,  and  I  had  scarcely  said  my 
say  when  they  began  to  call  for  our  Indian 
girl.  She  it  was  who  vividly  told  the  old, 
old  story.  Fearlessly  she  attacked  their  idol 
worship  and  held  it  up  to  scorn,  they  re 
sponding  "  Yes,  yes ;  true,  true."  We  left 
them  there  sitting  upon  their  haunches,  open- 
mouthed.  You  could  have  heard  a  pin  drop. 
I  wonder  if  the  night  found  them  a  little  less 
sordid,  with  a  little  longing,  a  little  hope  ? 

Not  far  beyond  ten  men  stopped  us  in  the 
fields  and  we  sat  down  under  the  golden  sun 
to  repeat  our  message. 

The  next  halt  was  at  a  little  hamlet  of  shep 
herds'  huts,  where  all  the  people  ran  in  af 
fright  at  sight  of  me,  one  stalwart  man  being 
brave  enough,  however,  to  rush  to  the  rescue 
of  his  toddling  two-year-old  whom  he  con 
veyed  to  a  place  of  safety.  I  was  surprised  at 
this,  but  my  little  helper  said  reminiscently  that 
she  had  been  wildly  terrified  when  she  came 
to  my  professional  attention  the  first  time. 
"  But  you  for  me  what  have  done ! "  she 
added  gratefully.  I,  too,  was  grateful  when 
I  compared  her  then  miserable  existence 
with  her  present  perfect  health.  As  the  sun 
reached  the  zenith  we  passed  a  village  on 
the  mountain  slope  embowered  in  palms  and, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        197 

hungry  and  footsore  though  we  were,  we 
could  not  resist  the  appeal  to  stop  and  talk. 

When  we  reached  the  tent  we  found  a 
crowd  gathered  there  and  a  case  demanding 
immediate  operation.  I  explained  the  neces 
sity  for  this — a  signal  for  the  mother  to  fall 
upon  the  exhausted  body  of  the  patient  with 
shrieking  and  tearing  of  hair,  crying  that  it 
should  never  be.  But  the  head  man  of  the 
town  interposed,  the  mother  was  sent  away, 
and  during  her  absence  the  operation  was 
compassed  under  a  mango  tree,  my  thirteen- 
year-old  companion  giving  the  anesthetic, 
while  two  unwashed  men  held  the  wounded 
member  for  cutting,  sewing,  and  splinting, 
and  my  "lady  of  the  tent  and  organ"  gra 
ciously  provided  cooking  utensils  for  anti 
septic  solutions  and  instruments. 

"  No  rest  for  the  wicked/'  I  sighed,  as  the 
patient  disappeared  over  the  hills  on  the 
shoulders  of  his  brother,  and  I  turned  to  the 
sixty  others  who  were  awaiting  my  services. 

The  day  was  waning  when  we  finally  sat 
down  to  our  lessons.  We  quickly  spun  them 
off  until  we  came  to  arithmetic,  and  with  it 
the  daily  struggle.  For  fifty  minutes  I  illus 
trated  and  proved  and  demonstrated  one 
simple  principle,  but  in  vain.  Flesh  and 
blood  could  endure  no  more,  and  exclaim- 


198        A  BLUESTOCKING  IK  INDIA 

ing  in  despair,  "  Thy  head  is  empty ;  go  to 
thy  tent,  sit  down  and  think,  and  think,  and 
think,"  I  gave  her  the  book  and  she  went,  a 
thick  cloud  settling  upon  her  classic  brow. 
At  twilight  I  called  her  for  our  evening  stroll 
with  water-pots  upon  our  heads,  than  which 
there  is  nothing  better  for  correct  poise  and 
for  counteracting  the  stooping  habits  of  a 
sedentary  life.  Silently  she  came,  gravely 
she  walked,  just  behind  me.  She  spoke 
monosyllables  in  response  to  my  questions 
and  vouchsafed  no  remark  of  her  own.  We 
sat  down  by  the  side  of  a  darkly-flowing 
river,  turbulent  as  her  inmost  thoughts  and 
as  secretive,  as  baffling.  I  studied  the  young 
head,  with  its  glossy  black  hair,  the  low, 
wide  brow,  the  straight  nose,  the  full  curv 
ing  lips,  the  gloomy  eyes.  Poor  child !  No 
father,  no  mother,  a  brutal  husband,  a  child 
hood  of  suffering,  just  blossoming  into  woman 
hood  and  belated  happiness,  but  none  to  love 
or  caress  her.  To  overcome  my  aversion  to 
cocoanut  oiled  hair,  to  take  her  in  my  arms, 
to  pillow  her  head  on  my  breast,  was  the 
work  of  a  moment ;  and  she  melted  into  a 
torrent  of  tears  and  cried  out  passionately, 
"  You  me  a  blockhead  called,  and  true  it  is ! 
One  I  am — so  have  all  my  teachers  said  ! " 
There  were  laughter  and  talk  as  we  re- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        199 

turned  to  the  tent  in  the  gathering  darkness, 
for  God  had  let  His  face  shine  upon  us,  and 
peace  reigned  in  our  hearts. 


Bhogav,  Feb., 

Every  now  and  then  we  fold  our  tents  and 
steal  away — not  very  silently  I  can  assure 
you,  with  the  servants  and  cart-wallahs  split 
ting  the  air  with  their  excess  of  talk,  which 
with  them  stands  in  lieu  of  work,  and  for 
which  they  demand  equal  pay. 

Striking  camp  is  always  a  tragedy,  for  we 
have  to  turn  out  before  dawn  so  the  kit  can 
be  loaded  for  an  early  start,  and  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  we  have  to  ride  some  fifteen  or 
twenty-five  miles  in  a  jolting  cart  behind  leis 
urely  bullocks  who  compass  anything  from 
one  to  two  miles  an  hour. 

At  the  last  camping-place  we  pitched  our 
tent  just  outside  the  courtyard  of  a  heathen 
temple,  in  the  midst  of  an  arid  waste  whose 
desolation  was  relieved  only  by  cactus  hedges 
and  thorny  trees.  Miss  Porter  bearded  the 
pilgrims  in  a  near-by  holy  town  on  the  banks 
of  a  sacred  river,  and  was  rewarded  for  her 
pains  and  preaching  by  being  pelted  with 
mud  and  unmercifully  jeered  at. 

The  meetings  which  we  held  daily  in  the 
dispensary  tent  were  rivalled  by  those  of  an 


200        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA. 

old  priest  or  yogi  who  held  forth  at  the 
temple  gate,  but  his  audience  was  to  ours  as 
five  to  seventy.  One  day  he  invaded  the 
tent  for  the  express  purpose  of  a  little  dia 
lectic  fun,  but  I  promptly  removed  the  wind 
from  his  sails  by  inviting  him  to  withdraw, 
as  I  had  pitched  my  tent  to  facilitate  the 
propagation  of  my  own  religion,  not  his. 
He  was  furious,  and  that  night  we  were 
alarmed  by  the  noise  and  flare  of  a  torch 
light  procession  apparently  marching  right 
upon  our  camp.  With  shouts  and  tom-toms 
and  waving  of  firebrands  they  came,  while 
we  watched  from  within — our  hearts  in  our 
mouths,  mentally  calculating  our  forces,  which 
consisted  of  ourselves,  two  native  women, 
four  men-servants  and  my  revolver.  I  knew 
the  last  factor  would  be  our  efficient  pro 
tector,  but  disliked  to  use  it,  because  of  the 
love  and  confidence  vested  in  us  by  the 
women  and  children  of  the  villages,  whom  its 
use  would  certainly  frighten  away. 

But  the  mob  turned  in  at  the  temple  gate, 
marching  and  stopping  before  the  various 
shrines,  crying  victory  to  their  gods.  The 
full  moon  brought  out  in  distinct  relief  their 
fantastic  movements,  which  we  watched  until 
weary.  When  we  retired,  I  sat  on  my  cot 
discouraged,  depressed  at  the  sordidness  of 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA.        201 

it  all,  the  damnedness  of  what  was  going  on 
so  near  us.  Miss  Porter,  in  her  long  white 
gown,  was  on  her  knees  in  prayer.  Sud 
denly — oh,  Eleanor,  I  cannot  tell  you — you 
will  think  me  mad  with  the  heat  and  burden 
of  it  all !  But  it  was  as  real  as  I  am.  Sud 
denly,  over  against  the  kneeling  figure,  I  was 
conscious  of  a  spirit  presence — not  a  shape, 
but  a  point  of  purity,  a  spot  of  holiness.  I 
scarcely  breathed.  Through  my  soul  then 
surged  the  words,  "  Fear  not,  I  am  with 
thee" — "Not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but 
by  My  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,"  and 
I  do  not  know  how  many  other  words,  and 
then  the  verses,  "  Encamped  against  the  walls 
of  sin" — and  so  forth. 

I  do  not  know  how  long  I  sat  there,  scarcely 
breathing.  I  seemed  aware  of  a  conflict  rag 
ing  in  the  air  of  forces  spiritual  and  forces 
devilish,  and  all  at  once  I  became  convinced 
of  certain  Scripture  which  I  had  always 
doubted.  I  fell  upon  my  knees  in  worship 
and  tears,  and  when  I  arose,  the  vision  had 
departed. 

"  Now  let  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for 
there  has  been  revealed  unto  her  the  glory 
of  the  Lord." 

Beloved,  all  the  heartaches,  the  loneliness, 
the  physical  suffering,  were  compensated  for 


202        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

in  that  hour.  I  would  go  through  it  all  again, 
aye,  and  more,  a  hundredfold  more,  for 
another  such  experience. 

***** 

.  .  .  Bhogav  is  a  lovely  spot  in  the  bend 
of  a  winding  river.  The  village  consists  of 
little  thatched  huts,  squatting  contentedly 
beneath  bending  bamboos,  while  our  tents 
are  pitched  in  a  magnificent  mango  grove. 
In  spite  of  the  shade,  however,  the  only  way 
I  survive  at  noon  is  by  lying  flat,  with  two 
wet  towels  on  my  head,  my  solar  topee,  and 
an  umbrella  spread  over  all. 

At  first  the  people  ran  at  the  sight  of  us, 
but  they  have  at  last  yielded  to  our  charm, 
and  yesterday  my  assistant  and  I  treated  five 
hundred  and  seventy-four  patients.  Of  course 
we  do  not  make  any  very  fine  diagnostic 
points — in  fact,  their  diseases  are  usually  evi 
dent  upon  the  surface — but  we  hand  out  the 
medicines  needed — we  have  the  most  common 
mixtures  all  prepared — as  they  pass  along. 
The  people  fairly  mob  us.  While  we  see  the 
patients,  the  others  do  the  preaching,  there 
being  from  five  hundred  to  one  thousand  in 
front  of  the  preaching  tent  all  day  long. 

Oh,  India,  how  great  is  thy  need ! 

How  I  long  for  my  old-time  vigour  and 
health  to  grapple  with  this  heathenism  which 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        203 

is  sapping  the  life  and  hope  of  these  mil 
lions.  But  as  my  heart  is  wrung  for  them, 
and  cries  out  inarticulately  after  them,  I  find 
health  barriers  shutting  me  away  from  them, 
limiting  my  every  effort. 

Our  next  move  will  be  over  the  mountains 
and  towards  the  coast,  with  Ratnigiri  as  our 
objective  point. 


Bombay,  April, 
Our  tour  reached  its  climax  with  fifty-three 
miles  of  up-and-down  mountain  road  behind 
two  tottering  bags  of  bones  called  by  courtesy 
horses,  and  then  when  one  of  the  poor 
wretches  seemed  like  to  die  we  finished  with 
a  pair  of  bullocks  and  a  driver  who  was  only 
kept  from  robbing  us  by  an  occasional  glimpse 
of  my  faithful  gun. 

It  was  a  relief  to  escape  the  dry,  fierce 
heat  of  the  Deccan,  though  the  moist,  hot 
coast  weather  made  us  limp  as  rags.  I 
stayed  on  some  time  for  the  sea-bathing, 
hoping  it  would  do  something  for  my  fever, 
and  was  startled  to  see  how  my  energetic 
soul  could  lounge  around  day  after  day, 
doing  nothing  but  gaze  at  the  picturesque 
palm  trees,  the  fishing-smacks  dotting  the 
harbour,  the  stretch  of  the  blessed  sea,  and 
the  calm  of  the  splendid  moon. 


204        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

There  is  such  a  funny  brass  band  at  Rat- 
nigiri,  which  exists  solely  for  the  benefit  of  old 
King  Thebauld.  The  poor  fellow  was  once 
ruler  of  Burmah,  but  he  did  not  wield  the 
sceptre  in  accordance  with  British  ideas,  and 
so  was  brought  "  across  India  and  the  South 
Seas  "  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
captivity,  receiving  a  huge  allowance  as  the 
price  of  his  freedom.  I  know  an  English 
governess  who  was  formerly  at  his  court. 
She  used  to  be  afraid  to  eat  lest  she  should 
be  poisoned  by  some  of  the  court  intriguers, 
and  is  on  record  as  having  approached  His 
Majesty  on  her  knees  to  beg  for  her  own  life. 

The  unfortunate  man  is  now  paying  the 
penalty  not  only  for  his  own  sins,  but  for  the 
misdemeanours  of  his  wives,  whose  mutual 
jealousies  and  plottings  to  enthrone  their 
respective  sons  brought  the  kingdom  to  its 
doom. 

The  sea  trip  up  to  Bombay  was  an  expe 
rience.  Carried  in  a  chair  through  the  surf 
by  coolies,  deposited  in  a  small  boat  and 
paddled  out  to  sea,  poised  on  the  edge  of 
that  until  the  waves  gave  a  favourable  lunge 
towards  the  steamer,  and  then  springing  and 
clutching  the  ladder  by  which  you  scramble 
up  and  over  the  side  ;  then  ninety  unspeaka 
ble  miles  surrounded  by  hordes  of  seasick 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        205 

natives,  with  a  Mussulman  captain — blue- 
coated  and  scarlet-bearded,  emblem  of  his 
pilgrimage  to  holy  Mecca — who  thinks  a 
woman  no  better  than  so  much  merchandise ; 
and  you  can  imagine  with  what  joy  I  sighted 
Bombay  and  how  I  wanted  to  embrace  the 
first  white  person  I  saw  on  the  wharf. 

I  have  decided  to  spend  the  hot  season  in 
Ceylon,  hoping  much  from  the  voyage  down. 
If  that  fails,  I  fear  the  next  thing  will  be  a 
break  for  "  me  ain  countrie." 

Nuwara  Eliya,  Ceylon,  June,  19 — . 
Dear  Girl : 

It  is  many  a  long  day  since  I  have 
written  you — longer  than  I  had  intended, 
but  now  that  the  monsoon  has  burst  in  all  its 
fury,  and  compels  me  to  remain  within  doors, 
I  shall  make  up  for  lost  time.  Your  reply  to 
my  last  letter  lies  open  before  me — what  a 
comfort  you  are  to  me,  Eleanor — I  do  not 
know  how  I  could  live  without  your  letters. 
You  bid  me  come  home  to  God's  country 
and  get  well,  and  I  very  much  fear  that  that 
will  be  the  end,  and  at  no  very  distant  date. 
I  hate  always  to  be  writing  you  of  my  health 
— or  lack  of  it — but  that  is  my  only  excuse 
for  making  a  grand  fizzle  of  my  career,  and  I 
must  make  the  most  of  it.  To  think  that  all 


206        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

my  hopes  and  aspirations  must  be  sacrificed 
for  such  a  reason  is  the  most  maddening 
thing.  And  yet  I  am  learning  patience  with 
it  all,  and  my  independent  spirit  is  giving 
place  to  a  dependent  trust  which  I  sometimes 
eye  askance,  so  foreign  is  it  to  my  nature. 
I  shall  be  reduced  to  the  clinging-vine  type 
all  right  by  the  next  time  you  see  me.  In  fact, 
when  anything  dominant,  strong,  controlling, 
appears  above  my  horizon,  I  have  an  almost 
irresistible  tendency  to  stick  in  my  tendrils, 
but  put  it  down  with  a  strong  hand  and  a 
reminder  of  my  youthful  ambitions. 

But  to  return.  The  voyage  to  Colombo 
was  anything  but  what  I  had  planned.  The 
breeze  was  all  behind  us,  travelling  at  about 
the  same  rate  as  the  boat,  so  we  sweltered  in 
a  stilly  atmosphere  just  above  the  equator, 
and  lost  our  last  vestige  of  vitality.  The  day 
we  landed  in  Colombo  I  succumbed  to  a 
violent  illness,  and  was  cared  for  in  a  mis 
sionary  retreat  by  a  motherly  Englishwoman 
until  able  to  travel  to  the  mountains.  The 
retreat  is  an  old  English  club-house,  guarded 
by  sentinel  palms,  on  the  shore  of  a  rippling 
lake,  and  just  beyond  a  green  "  thank-you- 
ma'am  "  is  the  expanse  of  restless  sea.  To 
lounge  by  the  lake  and  watch  the  ducks  and 
swans  ride  its  wavelets,  or  to  'rickshaw  along 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IK  INDIA        207 

Galle  Face  and  see  the  white-crested  surf 
break  bellowing  on  the  shore,  the  great  bluey- 
green  far,  far  out  against  the  sky,  where  sails 
dip  and  the  smoke  from  many  ships  mingles 
with  the  clouds,  was  my  convalescent  occupa 
tion  until  I  was  well  enough  to  undertake  the 
journey  to  Nuwara  Eliya. 

Such  an  enervating,  dreamy,  garden-land 
it  is  down  there,  with  its  tropical  growth, 
through  which  flit  groups  of  yellow-robed 
Buddhist  priests,  strangely  dressed  lay  people, 
and  little  brown  children.  Breezes  are  spicy, 
strands  are  coral,  every  prospect  pleases,  and 
only  man  is — as  usual. 

I  never  did  learn  to  distinguish  the 
women  from  the  men,  the  latter  with  their 
long  hair  arranged  in  a  coil  at  the  back  of 
the  head,  surmounted  with  a  circular  comb, 
and  if  it  happens  to  be  curly,  a  few  ringlets 
in  front.  A  white  gauze  shirt,  a  silken  scarf, 
a  straight,  skirt-like  drape  reaching  to  the 
ground,  and  the  effect  is  complete. 

Just  now  I  am  living  on  a  tea-plantation 
which  occupies  the  eastern  slope  of  a  great 
hill,  having  been  invited,  nay,  insistently  car 
ried  off,  by  the  sweetest  little  English  woman 
you  can  imagine.  Her  bairns  are  my  chief 
delight — every  morning  they  place  flowers 
upon  my  window  sill  before  I  am  up,  and 


208        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

each  day  sees  me  crowned  with  roses  and 
fragrant  violets. 

But  I  must  not  neglect  to  tell  you  of  the 
interim,  when  I  first  came  to  the  heights. 
The  Madame  of  the  retreat  sent  me  to  a 
sister  Madame  here,  who,  though  very  old  and 
deaf,  did  her  best  at  coddling  me  back  to 
health.  Two  missionaries,  whom  I  early 
dubbed  the  "  Stoic "  and  "  Sentimental 
Tommy"  were  occupying  a  small  cottage 
next  the  bungalow,  and  taking  meals  with 
Madame.  Tommy  had  two  intimate  military 
friends,  the  "  Baby  Elephant,"  so  called  be 
cause  very  young  and  very  elephantine  in 
proportions,  and  the  "  Warrior,"  of  superb 
physique,  witty,  and  original. 

The  marvel  of  the  friendship,  and  the  key 
to  the  whole  situation,  lay  in  the  curious  fact 
that  the  "  Baby  "  and  the  "  Warrior  "  had 
religious  inclinations,  and  the  four  of  them 
were  my  body-guard  to  prayer-meetings, 
divine  services  and  other  such  festive  func 
tions,  which,  under  the  cirumstances,  I 
attended  with  considerable  zest.  My  weak 
ness  and  semi-invalid  state  seemed  to  call 
out  all  their  chivalry,  and  one  or  another  of 
them  was  always  walking  by  my  'rickshaw, 
or  bringing  me  books,  papers,  or  flowers. 
One  day  we  all  went  to  Hakgalla  Gardens, 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        209 

lunching  in  a  lovely  arbour  overlooking  a 
vast  plain,  and  while  the  "  Warrior  "  and  I 
cracked  jokes  and  kept  the  "Baby"  in  gales  of 
laughter,  "Tommy"  gazed  dreamily  across 
the  vistas  to  the  misty  peaks  in  the  distance. 
The  day  was  spent  in  photographing  choice 
views  and  exclaiming  over  rare  plants,  until 
the  sun  began  to  sink  towards  the  horizon, 
when  we  started  home,  the  guard  taking 
turns  in  assisting  the  'rickshaw  coolies  up  the 
steep  road.  We  kept  them  all  for  dinner  that 
evening,  and  while  Madame  poured  after- 
dinner  coffee  in  the  drawing-room,  we  talked 
sense  and  nonsense,  and  "  Tommy  "  and  I  al 
most  had  a  quarrel.  I  was  supremely  happy, 
and  so  thankful  that  I  was  at  last  old  enough 
and  decrepit  enough  to  be  able  to  help  young 
men — Madame  does  not  count,  being  deaf — 
and  give  them  a  good  time  ;  and  as  we  sat 
by  the  cozy  fire  I  praised  Providence  for  my 
opportunities  ;  but  it  was  too  soon,  for  good 
ness  me !  that  very  evening  two  of  them  be 
gan  to  wax  sentimental — "Tommy,"  of 
course,  and  the  "  Warrior  "  ! — and  despite 
my  glass  eye  and  wig  I  had  to  meet  and  quell 
glances  from  soulful  eyes,  and  finally  to  con 
duct  laboriously  learned  conversations  on 
books,  the  last  theological  heresy,  and  mili 
tary  tactics. 


210       A  BLUESTOCKING  IK 

As  our  little  evening  company  broke  up, 
"  Tommy  "  suggested  that  we  walk  a  short 
distance  with  the  military,  and  as  the  moon 
was  superb,  I  yielded  ;  but  not  without  dis 
astrous  consequences,  as  you  may  be  able  to 
imagine.  The  walk  back  was  altogether  too 
leisurely,  but  I  shall  not  tell  you  what 
"Tommy"  said. 

They  all  left  soon  after  that,  including 
Madame,  and  I  came  to  live  at  the  planta 
tion.  The  "Warrior"  sends  me  a  paper 
now  and  then,  and  has  written  for  the  "  ines 
timable  privilege  "  of  meeting  me  in  Colombo 
and  showing  me  some  of  the  charming  drives 
along  the  sea-front. 

I  shall  leave  in  a  few  days,  and  plan  to  re 
turn  home  by  rail,  stopping  at  Kandy,  Co 
lombo,  Madura  and  Bangalore  for  rest,  and 
incidentally  a  little  sightseeing. 

Shahapur,  Aug.,  ip — . 
Dear  old  Eleanor  : 

The  die  is  cast !  My  passage  is  en 
gaged,  and  I  am  to  sail  in  three  weeks.  I  can 
scarcely  hold  myself  down  at  the  mere 
thought  of  it.  Won't  it  be  "  beastly  jolly  " 
to  be  home  again,  and  to  see  your  dear  faces 
once  more  ?  And  yet,  not  all,  for  some  of 
my  loved  ones  will  not  be  there  to  greet  the 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        211 

returning  wanderer ;  some  who  even  in  these 
short  years  have  gone  down  into  the  great 
silence  never  to  return.  I  have  not  realized 
that  even  yet — the  bitterness  of  it  is  still  to 
come.  But  the  sweetness,  oh,  the  sweetness, 
of  being  surrounded  with  my  dear  ones  once 
again ! 

The  thought  of  leaving  my  beloved  India 
is  a  sad  one — if  I  even  imagined  it  would  be 
forever,  I  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  part 
ing,  but  a  year  will  recuperate  my  flagging 
energies,  I  am  sure,  and  then  I  will  return  to 
fill  in  a  niche  already  prepared  for  me.  For 
what  do  you  think  ?  Some  of  my  royal  and 
wealthy  patrons  are  planning  to  build  a 
woman's  hospital  here  in  S.,  and  insist 
upon  my  taking  charge  of  it,  saying  that  it 
will  be  all  ready  in  less  than  two  years.  I 
am  so  gratified,  so  touched,  that  I  do  not 
know  what  to  do.  I  builded  better  than  I 
knew  when  I  spent  my  very  life  for  this 
stricken  people,  and  all  the  time  I  thought 
them  stoically  indifferent  to  my  interest,  sym 
pathy,  and  tireless  efforts.  But  compensa 
tion  never,  never  fails,  and  though  I  have 
lost  my  health — temporarily — I  have  won 
something  far  more  precious — the  love  and 
gratitude  of  these  people,  most  of  them  ig 
norant,  some  of  them  educated,  all  supersti- 


212        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

tious  and  fatalistic  to  a  degree  inconceivable 
to  you. 

And  I  ?  I  have  a  passion  for  them  which 
I  cannot  name.  It  is  no  wonder  the  good 
Lord  loves  us  after  all  we  have  cost  Him. 
And  my  efforts — little,  weak,  but  my  all,  my 
best — have  been  spent  for  them,  till  I  love 
every  soul  that  walks  through  this  vast  and 
dusky  land.  When  will  they  be  delivered 
from  famine,  pestilence,  crime?  When  will 
the  imploring  voices  of  oppressed  women, 
the  wails  of  girl  children  be  heard  ?  When 
will  the  temples  be  opened  to  the  light  of  day 
and  the  priestesses  of  unspeakable  rites  be  set 
free  ?  Oh,  India !  If  I  have  penetrated  thy 
almost  hopeless  gloom  with  one  tiny  bright 
ray,  I  am  more  than  repaid,  and  ready  to  re 
turn  and  complete  the  sacrifice. 

Since  my  return  from  Ceylon,  I  have  been 
able  to  do  scarcely  anything.  I  am  not  really 
ill,  you  know,  but  just  weak  and  good-for- 
nothing.  It  is  remarkable  how  well  I  look, 
however.  Though  thin,  the  fever  gives  me 
flushed  cheeks,  and  my  dull  eyes  brighten 
with  the  least  excitement.  I  have  tried  to 
attend  to  the  professional  needs  of  the  com 
pound,  but  any  overexertion  has  brought  on 
such  a  state  of  collapse  that  all  have  con 
spired  to  make  my  lot  an  easy  one.  For- 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        213 

tunately  there  has  been  very  little  sickness 
thus  far. 

I  go  out  to  a  social  function  now  and  then, 
when  I  am  the  gayest  of  the  gay,  owing  to 
the  ease  with  which  my  shattered  nerves  re 
spond  to  the  slightest  stimulus.  When  time 
drags  too  heavily  I  try  desultory  piano-prac 
tice,  but  generally  I  am  content  to  relapse 
into  a  state  of  innocuous  desuetude,  "  not 
much  remembering  the  days  of  my  life,  because 
God  answereth  me  in  the  joy  of  my  heart." 

At  present  the  commander  of  a  British 
cruiser  is  visiting  here  while  his  ship  lies  up 
in  Bombay  Harbour  for  repairs.  He  is  a 
jolly  old  bachelor,  and  I  like  him  tremen 
dously.  As  usual,  I  have  been  invited  to 
many  functions  in  his  honour,  to  "  make  out 
the  evens,"  and  we  have  struck  up  a  great 
friendship.  He  "  vamps"  for  all  the  college 
and  plantation  songs,  while  his  host,  Captain 
O'Hagan,  dramatizes  them. 

He  it  was  who  forced  me  to  the  piano  one 
evening  in  spite  of  all  my  protests,  for  out 
here  I  have  never  been  reputed  a  musician 
other  than  a  baby  organist.  Then  did  I 
thank  heaven  for  recent  "  desultory  practice," 
and  to  save  my  face  played  some  of  those  de 
licious  minor  things  from  Grieg. 

They  were  all  really  stunned — they  were 


214        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

so  surprised — and  all  the  "  wives  "  fell  upon  me 
for  having  kept  this  thing  hidden  for  so  long. 

After  each  function  I  spend  two  days  pros 
trate  in  bed — thus  do  I  pay  the  price  of  a  lit 
tle  variety. 

My  mind  is  being  unduly  distracted  by  the 
"real  life"  going  on  at  my  window.  The 
vine  trained  over  it  is  a  favourite  resort  for 
chameleons  and  lizards  of  all  sorts,  and  just 
now  one  is  hungrily  eyeing  a  fine  fat  fly 
buzzing  noisily  on  the  inside  of  the  pane. 
After  playing  possum  some  minutes  to  no 
purpose,  he  decided  to  assume  the  aggres 
sive,  and  gave  a  fierce  leap  right  at  his  un 
suspecting,  longed-for  victim.  Not  being 
inured  to  the  properties  of  glass,  he  failed  to 
understand  his  defeat,  and  has  repeated  his 
attempts  at  regular  intervals,  though  failing 
every  time. 

There  may  be  a  virtue  in  recognizing  defeat, 
though  a  transparent  barrier  is  sometimes 
difficult  to  see.  But  my  time  has  not  come  yet. 

I  must  go  to  dress  now,  for  H.  M.  S.  is 
coming  to  try  some  new  music. 

On  Arabian  Sea,  Sept.,  19 — . 
My  dear  Eleanor: 

Seas  are  blue,  heavens  are  blue,  all  is 
blue  but  my  heart,  which  is  surely  roseate- 


A  BLUESTOCKJNG  IN  INDIA.        215 

hued  or  I  could  not  be  so  supremely  con 
tented  and  happy.  The  softest  breezes  play 
across  my  face,  placid  waters  stretch  away  to 
the  horizon,  to  blend  there  with  the  azure 
sky. 

For  days  I  have  done  nothing  but  lie  back 
in  my  chair  and  dream  and  rest,  having 
slept,  I  imagine,  about  fifteen  hours  out  of 
the  twenty-four.  Already  I  feel  like  a  differ 
ent  being.  New  life  is  stirring  within  me,  a 
fresh,  boundless  hope  possesses  my  soul,  and 
I  foresee  a  speedy  return  to  perfect  health 
and  my  beloved  work. 

For  the  past  two  days  I  have  been  keenly 
alive  to  the  human  nature  on  board,  which 
affords  me  never-failing  amusement.  I  have 
formed  a  great  friendship  with  two  American 
girls — both  missionaries,  and  the  very  cream 
for  companionship  and  charm.  One  is  go 
ing  home  for  a  surgical  operation,  and  is 
rather  weak  in  the  knees  from  anticipation  of 
the  same.  She  is  exactly  my  style,  full  of 
fun,  a  good  dresser,  and — alas  that  candour 
compels  me  to  admit  my  own  failing — a  flirt 
from  the  day  she  was  born.  The  other  is 
her  medical  attendant,  with  a  Madonna  face 
crowned  with  massive  braids  of  brown  hair, 
who  is  everybody's  good  angel,  mothers  all 
the  children  on  board,  and  only  smiles  se- 


216        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

renely  when  La  Petite  and  I  give  her  a  shock. 
We  have  places  together  at  the  captain's 
table,  and  derive  no  end  of  fun  studying  and 
discussing  our  fellow  passengers,  most  of 
whom  are  English  officers  and  their  wives — 
except  one,  who  is  an  officer  without  the 
wife,  and  who,  upon  careful  inspection, 
proved  to  be  my  jungle-rescuer  and  one-time 
hero  of  Rawalpindi,  Captain — now  Major — 
Flanagin.  I  have  studiously  avoided  him, 
only  bowing  distantly  when  I  find  his  gaze 
fixed  directly  upon  me. 

All  the  English  wives  let  us  severely  alone 
because  we  are  Americans  and  missionaries, 
but  they  cannot  be  any  more  exclusive  than 
we.  Whenever  La  Petite  begins  to  look 
bored,  I  draw  my  chair  up  to  hers  and  begin 
the  poetry  of  the  day.  We  have  written  a 
jingle  about  nearly  every  passenger  on  board, 
and  they  are  so  absurd  that  we  nearly  perish 
with  laughter,  which  makes  us  the  envy  of 
all  the  disconsolates.  To  each  we  have  given 
a  name :  "  The  Mask "  to  a  colonel  whose 
inscrutable  smile  might  cover  any  amount  of 
villainy  ;  "  M.  P."  to  my  vis-a-vis  at  table, 
who  seemingly  carries  the  reputation  of  the 
English  nation  upon  his  slender  shoulders ; 
"  Taciturnity "  to  a  Portuguese  who  cannot 
speak  or  understand  any  other  language ; 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        217 

"  The  Sport "  to  a  very  gay  major ;  "  Inter 
national  "  to  my  jungle  hero,  because  he  talks 
with  every  one  available  and  makes  himself 
generally  entertaining  whenever  he  can  tear 
himself  away  from  bridge.  And  then  the 
" Admiral,"  the  "Prince,"  and  the  "Laird" 
are  Italian  naval  officers  coming  home  from 
China,  where  they  have  been  with  their 
battle-ship  for  the  past  three  years.  The 
"Admiral"  is  a  dear  little  man,  with  kindly 
eyes  and  a  fatherly  face,  but  the  other  two 
are  young  and  eager.  The  "  Prince  "  is  dark 
and  thoughtful,  the  "  Laird  "  light  and  mass 
ive,  and  the  latter  spends  most  of  his  time 
on  deck,  ostensibly  reading  a  book,  but  in 
reality  watching  La  Petite *s  every  movement, 
while  the  "  Prince "  promenades  gravely  in 
front  of  our  chairs. 

There  are  also  "  Beauty  and  the  Beast " — 
a  horrible,  dark-skinned  man  with  a  hand 
some,  exquisitely  dressed  bride,  who  employs 
every  known  wile  to  attract  the  "  Laird  "  to 
her  side. 

The  flirtations  carried  on  by  the  wives  are 
a  constant  source  of  shock  to  me.  "  Inter 
national  "  and  the  Italians  are  particular  fa 
vourites  of  theirs,  being  single  men.  If  you 
were  here  you  could  undoubtedly  get  some 
material  for  your  next  novel. 


218        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

One  day  out  from  Naples, 

Sept.  20,  /p — . 

Soon  we  shall  be  saying  farewell  to  our 
good  ship  and  her  freight,  among  whom  we 
have  spent  so  many  pleasant  days.  I  ex 
pected  to  write  you  very  often,  but  the  time 
has  been  filled  to  overflowing.  The  cool 
breezes  and  high  swell  of  the  Mediterranean 
remind  us  that  home  is  near  and  help  to  shut 
off  tropical  memories. 

But  I  must  tell  you  of  our  voyage — since  I 
last  wrote  it  has  been  a  continuous  round  of 
pleasure.  As  I  have  been  planning  to  tour 
in  Italy — a  result  of  Cousin  Betty's  gener 
osity — I  have  my  Italian  books  with  me, 
hoping  to  brush  up  enough  to  enable  me  at 
least  to  call  a  carriage  and  order  a  dinner. 
Apropos  of  which  it  came  to  pass  one  day 
that  the  "  Prince  "  took  a  chair  next  mine  at 
tea,  at  which  function  the  passengers  rarely 
sit  in  their  assigned  places,  though  La  Petite, 
Madonna,  and  I  always  do.  What  with  pass 
ing  the  biscuits  and  salt  a  conversation  en 
sued,  from  which  date  momentous  things. 
Discussing  Italian,  the  "  Prince  "  offered  me 
one  of  his  books  and  subsequently  rendered 
a  deal  of  valuable  assistance,  in  the  mean 
time  improving  every  opportunity  to  culti 
vate  La  Petite.  The  next  day  at  tea  found 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        219 

the  "  Prince "  reinforced  with  the  "  Laird," 
and  the  following  day  I  found  my  vis-fr-vis 
no  other  than  "  International."  There  was 
much  brilliant  conversation,  and  I  was  put  to 
it  to  keep  up  with  the  last  mentioned,  who 
I  found  was  a  well-known  writer  for  the 
stage. 

Tea  conversations  grew  into  greater  inti 
macies,  and  our  little  trio  quickly  found  it 
self  the  centre  of  the  ship's  popularity.  The 
wives  proceeded  to  thaw,  especially  "  Inter 
national's"  sister,  who  has  left  her  husband 
— an  up-country  colonel — in  India. 

The  Italians,  whose  crew  of  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men  are  travelling  third  class,  spared 
no  pains  to  trim  the  decks  for  naval  balls 
and  promenades,  and  we  had  festive  times 
amid  the  floating  bunting,  under  the  Chinese 
lanterns,  to  the  music  of  an  orchestra  im 
provised  from  among  the  non-commissioned 
officers  and  navvies.  The  first  waltz  of  the 
dark,  Sicilian-blooded  "  Prince "  with  airy, 
fairy  Petite,  was  greeted  with  a  storm  of 
applause.  "  International  "  two-steps  like  a 
steam-engine,  but  the  "  Laird  "  is  to  the  man 
ner  born.  He  is,  to  tell  the  truth,  a  younger 
son  of  an  ancient  house  in  North  Italy,  and 
his  broken  English  is  too  delicious  for  any 
thing. 


220        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Of  course  the  Madonna  does  not  approve 
of  all  this  gaiety,  and  is  therefore  the  more 
adored.  The  "  Laird "  would  do  anything 
for  her,  and  she  has  already  presented  him 
with  a  pocket  Testament  in  English,  which 
he  has  promised  to  read. 

At  Aden,  Port  Said,  and  Messina,  we  all 
did  the  places  in  carriages,  "  International's  " 
sister  acting  as  chaperone.  We  spent  an 
especially  charming  day  in  Messina,  driving 
behind  their  funny  little  horses  through  the 
narrow  streets,  while  every  passing  flower- 
girl  was  relieved  of  her  posies  for  our  Amer 
ican  sakes.  Lunch  and  business  filled  the 
remainder  of  the  time,  for  it  was  here  that 
the  "  Prince  "  received  the  wire  that  he  was 
to  be  an  attache  of  an  important  embassy 
into  Russia,  and  the  "  Laird  "  a  wordy  mes 
sage  from  his  pater  entreating  him  to  settle 
down  at  home  and  assume  the  responsibili 
ties  of  citizenship. 

And  so  idyllic  days  have  passed.  What 
of  the  future,  I  wonder?  As  we  steamed 
away  from  Port  Said  at  night,  and  the  many 
lights  with  their  reflections  flickered  along 
the  pier,  I  hung  over  the  railing  alone,  with 
a  great  longing  in  my  heart  and  my  eyes 
suffused  with  tears.  Those  lights  marked 
the  dividing  line  between  the  East  and  the 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        221 

West.  "  Some'eres  east  of  Suez  "  I  had  lived 
and  suffered  and  almost  died.  I  had  been 
strangely  moved  with  a  great  passion  for  a 
dusky  people,  I  had  fought  the  spirits  of 
darkness,  struggled  to  uplift  a  banner  of 
light,  had  pitied,  sympathized,  wept  over 
conditions  and  sufferings  too  horrible  to 
name. 

Already  it  seemed  like  another  world,  fad 
ing,  like  an  ill-remembered  dream.  The 
breezes  of  the  West  were  blowing  seeming 
films  of  fantasy  from  my  brain,  but  I  let 
them  go  with  a  cry  of  pain. 

Then  I  was  claimed  by  my  new-found 
friends — out  of  the  East,  and  yet  of  the 
West,  who,  with  a  strange  understanding 
of  my  mood,  drew  me  away  to  talk  and 
laughter. 

We  have  not  made  many  plans.  I  shall 
remain  with  Petite  and  Madonna  in  Naples 
until  they  sail  for  New  York,  and  then  visit 
Italian  cities  at  my  leisure.  Mrs.  Colonel 
has  asked  me  to  join  her  party,  and  I  may 
do  so  if  nothing  else  offers.  The  "  Laird  " 
and  the  "  Prince  "  plan  to  show  us  Naples, 
but  they  have  to  report  in  Rome  shortly  and 
will  have  but  little  time  for  us. 

To-morrow  will  be  our  day  of  farewells — 
sad  in  anticipation,  more  sad  in  realization. 


222        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

Venice,  Oct.  75,  /p — . 
Beloved  Eleanor  : 

A  wonderful  thing  has  happened.  I 
scarcely  know  how  to  tell  you  about  it. 
You  know  I  have  had  many  admirers ;  you 
may  also  recall  one — though  to  me  it  seems 
like  a  distant  dream — to  whom  I  almost 
gave  my  heart.  Recently  I  have  prided  my 
self  upon  being  proof  against  a  romantic 
passion ;  my  career  was  to  have  been 
enough.  Think  then  of  my  humiliation 
when  it  was  suddenly  borne  in  upon  me  that 
there  is  just  one  thing  in  all  the  world  for 
me,  and  that  is — the  major.  It  came  to  me 
suddenly — in  the  Pitti  Palace  at  Florence. 
We  had  all  been  together,  but  I  had  stolen 
back  for  a  last  look  at  Raphael's  "  Madonna 
del  Granduca."  The  others  missed  me,  and 
the  major,  "  International,"  you  know,  was 
sent  to  find  me.  His  hand  just  touched  my 
shoulder,  as  he  surprised  me  standing  rapt 
before  the  Madonna.  "  My  sister  sent  me  to 
find  you,"  he  said,  with  his  gentle  courtesy, 
and  I  turned  round  startled.  Something  in 
his  touch,  the  look  in  his  eyes,  made  my 
heart  beat  wildly,  and  then — I  knew.  But 
I  have  had  since  to  be  very  careful,  for  fear 
he  may  suspect  my  new  discovery.  I  have 
wanted  to  shout  with  joy ;  to  sing,  to  dance  ; 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        223 

the  Italian  sky  became  more  blue  than 
blue;  the  sun  seemed  to  kiss  more  raptur 
ously  the  swift-flowing  Arno,  and  Venice, 
with  full  moon  and  gondola  thrown  in, 
echoes  and  reechoes  the  perfect  happiness 
of  the  universe. 

Last  evening,  as  usual,  we  were  out  in  the 
gondola.  The  reflections  in  the  canal  were 
extraordinarily  clear,  Santa  Maria  dei  Sa- 
luti  looming  out  of  the  water  like  a  dream 
palace  under  the  moon,  and  the  lights  of 
the  Piazetta  and  the  Doges'  palace  twin 
kling  brilliantly  in  the  opposite  direction. 
"  International,"  who  speaks  Italian  very 
well,  instructed  the  gondolier  to  move  up 
beyond  the  musicians'  boats  and  the  hun 
dreds  of  gondolas  which  thronged  the  canal, 
to  a  spot  opposite  the  Bridge  of  Sighs, 
whence  we  could  escape  the  crowds  and 
hear  the  voices  of  the  singers  softened 
by  distance.  Mrs.  Colonel  and  her  friends 
carried  on  a  ceaseless  conversation,  in  which 
I  did  not  join,  for  the  mystery  of  the  night 
and  the  place  were  upon  me,  and  I  could 
not  talk.  "  International "  was  silent  too, 
but  after  a  time  began  in  a  desultory  way  to 
say  that  we  must  have  been  well  acquainted 
in  a  previous  incarnation,  for  he  had  never- 
been  able  to  erase  the  impression  of  having 


224        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

known  me  before.  I  laughed  and  responded 
by  telling  him  the  tale  of  a  maid  lost  in  the 
jungle,  and  of  her  rescue  by  a  booted  and 
spurred  cavalier.  "  By  Jove  !  "  he  exclaimed, 
"  of  course  that  was  you  !  Why  did  I  never 
connect  things  up  before  ?  " 

Then  he  continued  in  an  undertone  to  dilate 
mockingly  upon  the  risk  he  had  incurred  and 
the  bravery  he  had  manifested,  and  to  speak 
a  shade  more  seriously  of  awards  to  the 
brave. 

I  have  to  be  on  my  mettle  to  parry  and 
fence  when  talking  with  him,  and  it  is  a  ter 
rible  effort  when  your  heart  is  timid  with  a 
new-found  joy. 

By  the  way,  he  has  been  in  Virginia  and 
thinks  her  daughters  rare  specimens  in  the 
literary  line — I  told  him  of  you. 

It  was  very  late  when  we  finally  left  the 
mystic  out-of-doors,  to  turn  in  at  our  hotel 
and  stretch  our  bodies  to  rest.  I  pressed  a 
burning  face  and  wet  eyes  to  my  pillow  only 
to  begin  an  endless,  restless,  waking  dream 
of  the  major. 

New  York,  Dec.  /,  /p — . 
Dearest  Eleanor  : 

The  sunshine  is  pouring  in  at  my  south 
window  trying  to  rival  the  sunshine  in  my 


A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA        225 

heart,  but  it  cannot  hold  a  candle  to  that. 
To  tell  the  truth,  I  am  deliriously  happy — too 
happy  by  far  to  do  anything  but  flutter  and 
sing,  for  I  have  a  letter  pressing  down  the 
glad  throbs  of  my  little  beater  to  quiet  it — a 
letter  which  tells  of  the  struggle  of  a  deep  love 
against  a  meagre  hope. 

But  you  are  all  in  the  dark,  of  course,  and 
I  must  compose  my  tumultuous  feelings  suf 
ficiently  to  shed  some  light  over  into  your 
gloomy  corner,  for  all  the  world  is  in  shadow 
compared  with  the  glory  of  my  immediate 
environment. 

When  I  landed  in  New  York  Cousin  Betty 
at  once  took  me  in  hand,  and  consulted  her 
own  medical  adviser  and  the  great  nerve 
specialist  who  used  to  lay  us  all  out  in  student 
days.  The  result  was  an  order  to  take  the 
"rest  cure"  without  interruption  for  four 
weeks,  and  if  that  proved  insufficient,  more 
and  indefinitely.  I  have  been  a  remarkably 
tractable  patient,  considering  that  I  knew 
much  more  about  my  own  case  than  all  the 
nerve  specialists  in  the  world  combined,  and 
that  my  cure  depended  upon  more  than  their 
philosophy  could  even  dream  of.  But  I  was 
so  tired,  and  had  been  for  two  years,  that  I 
was  glad  enough  to  rest,  and  I  could  not  tell 
them  that  my  neurasthenia — at  least  the  last 


226        A  BLUESTOCKING  IN  INDIA 

edition  of  it — was  of  that  silly  schoolgirl  type 
occasioned  by  love  with  the  lover  missing. 

So  now  you  understand  why  I  have  not 
written,  why  I  have  not  been  home  to  clasp 
all  you  dear  ones  in  my  arms — my  poor  old 
shell  has  had  to  be  rebuilt  before  it  could 
weather  even  the  gales  of  your  affection. 

To-day  I  was  permitted  my  mail.  Your  let 
ter  with  its  cheer  and  welcome  brought  tears 
and  smiles. 

And  that  other  letter !  He  had  tried  to  for 
get  me,  he  says.  Then  he  speaks  of  that  day 
when  I  said  farewell  to  them  all  and  em 
barked  for  America  ;  he  thought  he  had  read 
love  in  my  eyes,  but  the  perennial  indifference 
of  my  attitude  had  obscured  the  vision,  and 
he  concluded  that  his  case  was  hopeless. 

He  says  he  will  board  the  first  steamer  if 
he  receives  an  atom  of  encouragement. 

Never  in  my  life  before  have  I  been  ready 
to  let  go,  to  yield,  to  be  managed.  The  doc 
tor  says  I  cannot  return  to  professional  life — 
it  is  too  strenuous.  Providence  has  arranged 
obstacles  to  destroy  my  career,  and  avenues 
to  bring  about  my  happiness,  and  I  can  but 
sing  a  glad  song  of  gratitude  and  praise. 

I  have  written  him  to  come,  and  shall  wait 
here  until  after  his  arrival.  After  that 

ADIEU 


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